Reign  of  the 
Manuscript 


/V/vy/ 


Sinks,  S.  T.  1). 


Till'.       lll'.Cieill       U  'I       ollCe       >aid,  Ol 

making    main                                IS .  no  end.  " 

Tr  .  .    :-    e<  :     there    fortunat  n<. 

1    to   tin-   making  of  books:   but  there 
i  beginning. 

In  the    primeval    aye    tin-    world    Wi  iel    of 

artificial    re.                Then    "  •  »rd, 

or   syllable,   or   letter,    or   sound, 

thought    in   all   the  «-arth. 

"The  reign  of  the  Manuscript"  bridges  t!i 
to   tin-    begin n'n  .11    recorded    literature,    and 

traces  its  course-  down   through   th- 


Studies  in  Literature 


EXUBRIS  UNIVERSITY  OFCMJFORNIA 


JOHN  HENPY  NASH  LIBRARY 

<$>  SAN  FRANCISCO  <8> 

PRESENTED  TO  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


ROBERT  GORDON  SPROUL, PRESIDENT 
BY" 


MR.ANDMRS.M1LTON  S.RAY 
CECILY,  VIRGINIA ANDROSALYN  RAY 


RAY  OIL  BURNER  COMPANY 


THE  REIGN  OF  THE 
MANUSCRIPT 

BY 
PERRY  WAYLAND  SINKS,  S.T.D. 

Author  of 

"Popular  Amusements  and  the  Christian  Life," 

"Jesus  and  the  Children,"  "About  Money" 

"Whittlers  of  the  Word  of  God," 

"In  the  Refiner's  Fire" 


And  the  books,  especially  the  parchments. 
—II.  Timothy  4:13 


BOSTON:    RICHARD  G.  BADGER 

TORONTO:    THE  COPP  CLARK  co.,  LIMITED 


COPYRIGHT,  1917,  BY  RICHARD  G.  BADGER 
All  Rights  Reserved 


Made  in  the  United  States  of  America 
The  Gorham  Press,  Boston,  U.S.A. 


TO  OUR  BELOVED  SONS  AND  DAUGHTERS 
OUR  EARNEST  CARE  AND    CROWN  OF  JOY 


AN  APPRECIATION 


I  have  examined  the  manuscript  of  your  book  with  care. 
The  conception  seems  to  me  to  be  admirable,  and  new  in 
form  of  presentation.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  valuable 
material  for  which  one  would  search  a  long  time  and  then 
not  find  it  in  the  orderly  and  compact  form  which  you  have 
given  it.  It  seems  to  me  that  Sunday  school  teachers  would 
welcome  it  especially,  and  leaders  of  teacher-training  classes 
would  desire  to  use  it  as  an  auxiliary  text  book.  I  trust  it 
will  be  widely  read. 

ERNEST   BOURNER   ALLEN 

The  Washington  Street  Congregational  Church. 

1917 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

I     THE  EPOCHAL  INVENTION  OF  PRINTING    .      .      .11 

II     THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  PRINTING  PRESS     .      .  16 

III  THE  PERIOD  OF  MANUSCRIPT  LITERATURE     .      .  19 

IV  THE  AMPLITUDE  OF  THE  BIBLE  IN  MANUSCRIPT  .  33 
V     THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT  IN  LITERATURE     ...  40 

VI     MATERIALS  EMBODYING  LITERATURE  ....  46 
VII     VARIETIES  AND  CHANCES  IN  THE  MATERIALS  OF 

BOOKS 55 

VIII     PARCHMENT  AND  VELLUM 59 

IX     PAPYRUS 66 

X     PAPER  AND  ITS  MANUFACTURE 72 

XI     OTHER  MATERIALS  OF  LITERATURE     ....  78 

XII     INKS 83 

XIII  IMPLEMENTS  OF  WRITING 87 

XIV  THE  ART  AND  SCIENCE  OF  PALAEOGRAPHY       .      .  89 

1  THE  HIEROGLYPHIC  WRITING 92 

2  THE  CUNEIFORM  WRITING 99 

3  THE  ALPHABETIC  WRITING 104 

4  THE  CLASSIC  WRITING 112 

5  THE  Two  GREAT  STAGES  OF  CLASSIC  WRITING  1 13 

6  THE  ANGLO-SAXON  WRITING  .      .      .      :>     .  115 

7  PALAEOGRAPHY  AND  THE  DATE  OF  LITERARY 

PRODUCTIONS  117 


8  CONTENTS 

CHAPTU  FACE 

XV     MECHANICAL  AND  ARTIFICIAL  DEVICES  OF  LITERA- 
TURE  120 

XVI     SOURCES  OF  THE  BOOK-MAKING  INDUSTRY     .      .127 
XVII     THE  LITERARY  PREEMINENCE  OF  ALEXANDRIA     .    133 
XVIII     VARYING   FORTUNES   OF   THE  ALEXANDRIAN 

LIBRARY 143 

XIX     CONSTANTINOPLE  THE  LATER  CENTER  OF  LITERA- 
TURE      146 

XX    MONASTERIES  AND  THE  MONASTIC  INSTITUTION  .    154 
INDEX.  172 


THE  REIGN  OF  THE 
MANUSCRIPT 


THE   REIGN  OF   THE 
MANUSCRIPT 


THE  EPOCHAL  INVENTION  OF  PRINTING 

THE  invention  of  printing  at  about  the  middle 
of  the  fifteenth  century  marks  an  epoch  in  the 
world's  literature  and  in  the  history  of  the  human 
race.  Previous  to  this  invention  were  spread  out 
the  events,  the  scenes,  and  the  achievements  of 
ancient  and  medieval  times;  after  it  came  the 
marvelous  unfoldings  of  the  modern  age. 

The  introduction  of  typography  or  the  art  of 
printing  by  means  of  movable  types  set  in  opera- 
tion an  instrumentality  which,  for  multiplying  the 
effectiveness  of  all  literary  productions,  is  far  beyond 
all  adequate  conception; — and  this  all  apart  from 
the  time  of  its  origin  and  the  person  of  its 
originator. 

Printing  as  an  invention  and  an  art — for  it  is 
both — has  been  ascribed  to  the  Chinese,  and  is 
said  to  have  been  known  from,  or  from  before, 
the  dawn  of  the  Christian  Era.  Mr.  George  H. 

ii 


12  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

Putnam  states  it  as  a  fact  that  "Printing  from  solid 
blocks  was  done  in  China  as  early  as  the  first  cen- 
tury A.  D.,"  and  credits  the  art  of  printing  from 
movable  types  to  a  blacksmith  who  turned  out  books 
in  China  toward  the  close  of  the  tenth  century, 
A.  D.,  or  early  in  the  eleventh.  And  a  writer  in 
the  Encylopedia  Britannica  (Eleventh  Edition)  as- 
serts that  printed  books  were  common  in  China  in 
the  tenth  century,  and  that  examples  of  xylographic 
or  block  printing  in  Japan  date  from  the  period 
of  754  to  770  A.  D.  However  this  may  be,  it  re- 
mains true  that,  in  relation  to  the  spread  of  litera- 
ture and  the  development  of  civilization,  typography 
is  occidental  rather  than  oriental.  Furthermore,  we 
need  to  distinguish  between  the  block  printing  of 
China  and  the  great  invention  at  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  Comparing  impressions  from  en- 
graved blocks  of  wood  with  the  type-printing  of 
Gutenberg,  Professor  Dobschiitz  says:  "People  had 
used  woodcuts  before  his  time.  Engraving  large 
blocks  of  wood  with  pictures  and  letters,  they  printed 
the  so-called  block-books  as  a  cheap  substitute  for 
illuminated  manuscripts.  Gutenberg's  great  idea 
was  that  instead  of  using  a  woodcut  block  for  the 
page  one  might  compose  a  page  by  using  separate 
movable  letters,  putting  them  together  according  to 
the  present  need,  then  separating  them  again."  * 
It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  invention  of  print- 
ing from  movable  types,  as  an  epoch  of  human  his- 

'The  Influence  of  the  Bible  on  Civilisation,  p.  119. 


The  Epochal  Invention  of  Printing         13 

tory,  had  its  real  beginning  in  Germany,  dates  from 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  is  associated 
with  one  named  Johannes  Gutenberg. 

Gutenberg  was  of  patrician  parentage  and  was 
born  at  Mainz  (the  modern  Mayence),  Germany, 
about  1400  A.  D.  His  life  was  a  prolonged  strug- 
gle with  adverse  circumstances.  He  died  in  1468, 
poor,  childless,  and  almost  friendless — scarcely 
dreaming  that  he  had  laid  the  foundations  of  a 
benefaction  which  chronicled  the  turning-point  of 
universal  history,  set  a  permanent  guide-post  in  the 
world's  progress,  and  proclaimed  a  new  era  in  civili- 
zation. But  so  it  was. 

While  we  are  without  definite  information  as  to 
how  the  first  copies  were  printed,  yet  it  is  obvious 
from  Gutenberg's  famous  forty-two  line  Bible  that 
they  used  a  mechanical  press.  The  earliest  picture 
of  a  printing-press  shows  an  upright  wooden  frame 
with  a  screw  post  attachment  by  means  of  which  the 
required  pressure  for  impression  was  obtained  and 
then  reversed  to  release  and  remove  the  printed 
sheet.  This  screw  post  was  operated  by  a  movable 
bar.  This  kind  of  press  continued  to  be  used  for  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  first  types  were  cut 
from  wood,  but  the  ink  used  had  a  softening  effect 
thereupon  and  lead  was  substituted.  Lead,  in  turn, 
was  found  to  be  too  soft  a  metal  to  resist  the  pres- 
sure requisite  for  printing.  After  experimentation, 
an  alloy  of  antimony  and  lead  proved  to  have  the 
adaptable  strength  and  softness ;  it  was  also  capable 


14  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

of  delicate  and  clear-cut  manipulation.  These 
metal  types  were  first  cast  in  sand  and,  later,  in  clay 
molds.  The  ink  used  for  printing  with  the  Guten- 
berg press  was  a  mixture  of  linseed  oil  and  lamp- 
hlack  and  was  applied  to  the  type-form  by  means  of 
a  "dabber"  made  of  skin  and  stuffed  with  wool. 
It  is  stated  that  the  first  types  as  used  in  China  were 
made  of  plastic  clay;  later,  of  copper;  and  then  of 
lead,  inasmuch  as  copper  had  come  to  be  utilized  as 
coin.  (Putnam.) 

It  is  worthy  of  our  note  in  this  connection  that 
the  first  important  product  of  the  printing-press  was 
the  Bible; — was  devoted,  as  has  been  said,  "to  the 
service  of  heaven."  This  first  "production"  was  on 
641  leaves  of  vellum,  two  columns  to  a  page,  and 
forty-two  lines  to  each  column.  "Probably,"  says 
Professor  Dobschiitz,  "not  more  than  100  copies  of 
the  Bible  were  printed,  a  third  of  these  on  parch- 
ment. Out  of  thirty-one  copies  which  have  been 
preserved,  or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  are  known 
as  such,  ten  are  luxuriously  printed  on  parchment  and 
illuminated,  each  in  a  different  way,  but  all  very  fine 
and  costly." 2  (One  copy  of  Gutenberg's  first 
printed  Bible  was  sold  for  $20,000.)  The  first 
copy  of  this  edition  known  to  scholars — the  Latin 
Vulgate — was  discovered  long  after  (in  1760)  in 
the  library  of  Cardinal  Mazarin,  whence  its  designa- 
tion, "the  Mazarin  Bible."  Nine  other  copies 
which  were  upon  vellum  and  a  score  that  were 

"The  Influence  of  the  Bible  on  Civilisation,  p.  121. 


The  Epochal  Invention  of  Printing          15 

printed  on  paper  (two  of  which  are  in  New  York 
City)  are  all  that  are  known  to  the  bibliographers 
of  the  first  "edition"  of  the  printed  Bible.  While 
engaged  in  the  production  of  this  first  book  (which 
required  four  years,  1453-1456,  to  complete) 
Gutenberg  printed  smaller  works — school  books  and 
the  like — for  immediate  financial  returns.  In  this 
first  edition  of  the  printed  Bible  the  initial  letters 
were  not  struck  off  by  press  but  were  left,  together 
with  the  marginal  decorations,  for  after  illumina- 
tion by  hand.  A  Bible  printed  at  Mainz  in  1462  is 
the  first  printed  book  that  bears  the  date  of  its  pro- 
duction. 


II 

THE    IMPORTANCE   OF  THE   PRINTING   PRESS 

THE  printing-press,  in  many  essential  respects, 
is  the  most  significant  invention  of  all  human 
history.  It  has  touched  and  vitalized  civilizations, 
countries,  nations,  languages,  and  dialects.  As  an 
invention  it  has  contributed  immeasurably  to  the 
currency  and  the  perpetuity  of  all  literature.  It  also 
sounded  the  doom  of  the  written  book.  Hallam, 
the  Historian  of  the  Middle  Ages,  says:  "Since 
the  invention  of  printing  the  absolute  extinction  of 
any  considerable  work  seems  a  danger  too  improb- 
able for  apprehension.  The  press  pours  forth  in 
a  few  days  a  thousand  volumes,  which,  scattered 
like  seeds  in  the  air  over  the  Republic  of  Europe, 
could  hardly  be  destroyed  without  the  extirpation 
of  its  inhabitants."  And,  concerning  the  exposure 
to  which  the  manuscript  production  of  all  previous 
history  was  subjected,  he  says:  "In  the  times  of 
antiquity  manuscripts  were  copied  with  cost,  labor, 
and  delay;  and  if  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  be 
measured  by  the  multiplication  of  books  (no  unfair 
standard)  the  most  golden  ages  of  ancient  learning 
could  never  bear  the  least  comparison  with  the  last 
three  centuries.  The  destruction  of  a  few  libraries 

16 


The  Importance  of  the  Printing  Press        17 

by  accidental  fire,  the  desolation  of  a  few  provinces 
by  unsparing  and  illiterate  barbarians,  might  anni- 
hilate every  vestige  of  an  author,  or  leave  a  few 
scattered  copies,  which,  from  the  public  indifference 
there  was  no  inducement  to  multiply,  exposed  to 
similar  casualties  in  succeeding  times."  1  In  a  word, 
printing  has  the  double  advantage  over  writing  of  a 
more  rapid  multiplication  of  copies  and  their  in- 
creased accuracy.  But  even  with  the  increased  ac- 
curacy of  printing,  few  books  of  considerable  size 
are  issued  in  which  errors  are  not  to  be  found.  It 
is  said  to  be  the  fact  that,  after  incredible  care  on 
the  part  of  editors  and  professional  proofreaders, 
the  offered  reward  of  a  guinea  for  each  detected 
error  in  the  Oxford  Revised  Version  of  the  Bible 
brought  several  errors  to  light.  (International 
Stand.  Bib.  Encyclopedia.) 

The  invention  of  printing,  through  its  associated 
process  of  proof  corrections,  has  virtually  exempted 
books  from  the  mundane  laws  of  decay  and  has 
greatly  aided  as  well  in  their  preservation  and  their 
widest  circulation.  This  invention  has  made  defi- 
nite and  immutable  the  records  of  the  world  since 
then  and  it  has  contributed  also  to  the  purification 
and  renewal  of  the  more  ancient  literary  produc- 
tions. Printing  as  an  invention  has  given  to  an 
edition  of  a  particular  work  a  measure  of  impor- 
tance hundreds  or  thousands  of  times  greater  in 
every  respect  save  one,  viz.,  the  labor  of  transcrip- 

1  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i,  p.  7. 


1 8  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

tion,  than  that  which  had  previously  attached  to  the 
production  of  a  single  book.  The  invention  has 
therefore  involved  and  necessitated  a  proportion- 
ately larger  consideration  in  the  making  of  a  printed 
book,  lest  defects  and  errors  in  the  type-plates  from 
which  the  book  is  printed  should  become  permanently 
fixed  in  a  thousand  or  ten  thousand  impressions 
therefrom.  (Isaac  Taylor.)  And  it  was  printing 
that  made  uniformity  of  text  possible.  Guizot  esti- 
mates the  importance  of  this  invention  thus:  "From 
1436  to  1452,  printing  was  invented: — printing,  the 
theme  of  so  much  declamation,  and  so  many  common- 
places, but  the  merit  and  the  effect  of  which  no  com- 
monplace nor  any  declamation  can  ever  exhaust." 
The  invention  of  printing  has  peculiar  significance 
within  the  realm  of  religious  life  and  knowledge; 
for,  in  relation  to  the  scripture  text,  to  the  spread 
of  religious  intelligence  and  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  to  the  growth  and  stabilization  of  the 
individual  character, — in  a  word,  in  relation  to  Re- 
demption itself,  who  can  apprehend,  much  less  meas- 
ure, the  significance  of  this  invention?  Truly,  the 
Bible  which  ^wfolds  the  basis  of  our  faith  as  the 
bud  does  the  blossom  and  the  fruit,  as  well  as  un- 
folds the  way  of  life  as  the  guide-post  directs  the 
traveler  on  his  journey,  has  come  into  the  world  for 
man,  and  has  come  to  stay.  For  the  great  discov- 
eries and  inventions,  in  wide  areas  of  human  investi- 
gation, but  brighten  its  pages  and  multiply  its  ca- 
pacity to  fulfill  the  purposes  of  God  on  the  earth. 


Ill 

THE  PERIOD  OF  MANUSCRIPT  LITERATURE 

THE  age  in  which  literature  was  disseminated 
and  preserved  extended  from  the  time  of  the 
earliest  intellectual  compositions  designed  for  com- 
munication— as  the  papyri  hieroglyphics  of  ancient 
Egypt  and  the  leather  and  parchment  rolls  of  the 
early  Persian  and  Jewish  peoples;  and  included  also 
those  compositions  which  had  a  limited  circulating 
character,  like  the  tablets  and  cylinders  of  ancient 
Assyria — down  to  the  time  when  the  printing-press 
was  invented.  This,  inclusively,  is  the  period  of  the 
manuscript  literature.  Throughout  this  entire 
period  of  the  world's  ongoing,  for  many  hundreds 
or  some  thousands  of  years,  each  and  every  kind 
of  production,  whether  in  hieroglyph,  cuneiform,  or 
alphabetic  characters,  was  made  by  itself — the  pro- 
ducer inscribing,  painting,  or  printing  (letter  by  let- 
ter or  character  by  character)  through  hundreds  ahd 
thousands  of  pages.  uTo  the  time  of  the  invention 
of  printing,  and  until  the  printed  book  had  driven 
it  out  of  the  field,  the  manuscript  was  the  vehicle 
for  the  conservation  and  dissemination  of  literature 
and  discharges  the  function  of  a  printed  book." 
A  book  has  been  defined  as  "any  record  of  thought 

19 


20  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

in  words."  This  may  be  a  correct  definition  as  far 
as  it  relates  to  literature  but  not  as  it  relates  to  the 
"record  of  thought."  There  is  a  "record  of 
thought"  independent  of  words  and,  perhaps,  long 
antedating  the  record  in  words  of  any  language.  A 
word  has  been  defined  as  "the  sign  of  an  idea." 
But  were  there  not  "ideas"  long  before  they  were 
communicated  by  words?  If  there  are  "songs 
without  words"  may  there  not  be,  or,  at  least  may 
there  not  have  been,  "ideas  without  words"?  An 
affirmative  answer  is  admirably  illustrated — and 
the  illustration  is  confirmatory — by  a  group  of  six 
great  mural  paintings  by  Mr.  John  W.  Alexander, 
in  the  Library  of  Congress  at  Washington.  These 
pictures  illustrate  historically  the  probable  genesis 
and  evolution  of  the  "book."  The  first  painting  is 
of  the  rude  Cairn  or  heap  of  stones  piled  up  on  the 
seashore  or  elsewhere  by  prehistoric  man  in  order 
to  commemorate  some  event  or  achievement,  and 
thus  to  stand  as  a  "record"  or  landmark  of  a  fact  or 
truth.  The  second  picture  is  illustrative  of  Oral 
Tradition,  and  represents  the  "narration"  of  facts 
or  doings  by  the  word  of  mouth.  The  third  is 
called  the  Pictograph  which  consists  in  delineations 
of  events  or  experiences  as  drawn  by  some  imple- 
ment upon  the  surface  of  skins,  or  on  the  leaves  or 
bark  of  trees  or  plants,  and  by  means  of  which  there 
was  created  a  kind  of  permanent  "record"  of  past 
"happenings"  or  doings.  The  fourth  is  the  Hiero- 
glyphics— which  brings  us  to  the  historic  period — 


The  Period  of  Manuscript  Literature         2 1 

in  which  there  were  carved  on  the  face  of  cliffs,  on 
the  walls  of  structures  of  any  kind,  or  on  wood,  the 
pictured  and,  may  be,  progressive  delineations  of 
events  or  ideas.  The  fifth  is  the  Manuscripts  or 
the  record  contained  in  written  language  and  which 
was  phonetic,  syllabic,  or  alphabetic, — the  end  to- 
ward which  all  earlier  stages  of  "record"  tended. 
The  sixth  and  last  picture  is  the  Printing  Press,  the 
embodiment  and  consummation  of  all  the  earlier 
phases  and  stages  in  the  "records  of  the  past."  It 
is  the  obvious  lesson  from  these  great  paintings  that 
a  "record  of  thought"  by  means  of  "words"  was 
not  fully  achieved  until  the  manuscript  entered  upon 
its  world-wide  and  enduring  career,  or,  in  which 
"words"  became  the  embodiment  and  depository  of 
permanent  and  communicable  "ideas."  The  words 
of  Mr.  E.  C.  Richardson  are  quoted  as  bearing 
upon  the  period  of  manuscript  literature:  "Some  of 
the  pictures  on  the  cave  walls  of  the  neolithic  age 
seem  to  have  the  essential  characteristics  of  books 
and  certainly  the  earliest  clay  tablets  and  inscrip- 
tions do.  These  seem  to  carry  back  with  certainty 
to  at  least  4,200  B.  C.  By  a  thousand  years  later, 
tablet  books  and  inscriptions  were  common  and 
papyrus  books  seem  to  have  been  well  begun.  An- 
other thousand  years,  or  some  time  before  Ham- 
murabi, books  of  many  sorts  were  numerous.  At 
the  time  of  Abraham,  books  were  common  all  over 
Egypt,  Babylonia,  Palestine,  and  the  eastern  Medi- 
terranean as  far  at  least  as  Crete  and  Asia  Minor. 


22  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

In  the  time  of  Moses,  whenever  that  may  have  been, 
the  alphabet  had  perhaps  been  invented,  books  were 
common  among  all  priestly  and  official  classes,  not 
only  in  Babylonia,  Asyria,  and  Egypt,  but  at  least  in 
two  or  three  scores  of  places  in  Palestine,  north  of 
Syria  and  Cyprus."  1 

The  earliest  literature  of  the  ancient  Greeks  was 
first  preserved  in  oral  traditions,  folk-lore,  and  leg- 
endary minstrelsy,  and  not  in  written  language.  It 
is  possible,  nay,  probable,  that  in  Greece,  Egypt, 
China,  Japan,  and  Persia  also,  folk-lore  and  folk- 
tales were  perpetuated  through  memory  by  means  of 
recitations,  as  in  the  instances  of  the  rhapsodists — 
the  class  of  professional  reciters  who  publicly  de- 
claimed the  Homeric  literature  and  the  folk-lore  of 
the  ages  with  more  or  less  artistic  inflection  or  in- 
tonation of  the  voice.  The  proclamations  of  rulers, 
the  compositions  of  poets  and  historians,  and  the 
oracles  of  religion  were  anciently  published  orally, 
often,  by  heralds,  minstrels,  and  prophets.  The 
great  Hebrew  Lawgiver  embodied  a  wide-spread 
principle  and  practice  in  his  final  injunction  to  the 
Hebrew  nation :  "Now  therefore  write  ye  this  song 
for  you  and  teach  it  to  the  children  of  Israel;  put  it 
in  their  mouths,  that  this  song  may  be  a  witness  for 
me  against  the  children  of  Israel/'  (Deut.  31 119.) 
Aside  from  narrower  applications  of  this  practice, 
the  great  achievements  and  deliverences  of  the  Is- 
raelitish  people  were  celebrated  and  perpetually 

1  International  Standard  Bible  Encyclopedia,  art.  "Books." 


The  Period  of  Manuscript  Literature          23 

memorialized  in  song  and  psalm.  On  the  shores 
of  the  Red  Sea,  Moses  and  his  people  sang  their 
song  of  deliverance  from  the  hand  of  their  enemy. 
And  when,  at  a  later  age,  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant 
was  borne  to  its  resting  place  within  the  Sacred  City, 
it  was  amidst  the  antiphonal  chanting  of  the  psalm 
which  David,  himself,  had  composed  for  the  oc- 
casion. The  psalms  in  themselves — as  one  of  the 
purposes  of  their  composition — were  a  partial  wit- 
ness to  the  place  and  prominence  of  song  and  chant 
in  teaching  religious  truth  and  thus  in  keeping  faith 
alive  on  the  earth.  Plato  states  that  the  first  laws 
of  all  nations  were  composed  in  verse  and  sung. 
There  is  a  remembrancer  in  Plato's  statement  con- 
cerning the  first  laws  of  nations  of  our  own  primi- 
tive pedagogical  methods  within  certain  departments 
of  learning.  And  so,  by  tradition,  recitative,  min- 
strelsy, and  psalmody — of  wide  application  in  the 
early  ages — both  a  wider  currency  and  a  more 
tenacious  hold  was  taken  by  these  laws,  proclama- 
tions, and  truths  upon  the  popular  mind.  Especially 
so  as  the  popular  mind  was  deficient  in  the  art  of 
reading,  even  when  literature  had  been  embodied  in 
writing.  And  this  was  true  in  both  sacred  and  pro- 
fane history.  Thus,  minstrelsy,  chant,  and  tradi- 
tion have  performed  an  important  function  in 
the  beginnings  of  many  ancient  peoples.  And, 
strange  as  it  may  seem  to  us,  Plato,  notwithstanding 
his  voluminous  writings  and  his  place  in  the  literary 
world  for  nearly  three  thousand  years,  put  a  low 


24  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

estimate  on  the  importance  of  written  as  compared 
with  oral  teaching. 

The  Greek  classics — the  matchless  monuments  of 
ancient  literature — as  represented  in  the  Iliad,  the 
Odyssey,  and  the  Homeric  Hymns  were  preserved, 
perpetuated,  and  disseminated  for  generations  if  not 
for  centuries,  not  by  written  records — as  later  litera- 
ture has  been  handed  down  by  the  written  or  printed 
page — but  through  ballads,  minstrelsy,  and  recita- 
tion. uThe  ^Eolic  emigrants  who  settled  in  the 
north-west  of  Asia-Minor  brought  with  them  the 
warlike  legends  of  their  chiefs — the  Archaean 
princes  of  old.  These  legends  lived  in  the  ballads 
of  the  /Eolic  minstrels,  and  from  them  passed  south- 
ward into  Ionia,  where  the  Ionian  poets  gradually 
shaped  them  into  higher  artistic  form."  2  "Ma- 
haffy  and  Jevons  are  in  accord,"  says  Mr.  Putnam, 
uin  pointing  out  that  the  effort  of  memory  required 
for  the  composition  and  transmission  of  long  poems 
without  the  aid  of  writing,  while  implying  a  power 
never  manifested  among  people  possessing  printed 
books,  is  not  in  itself  at  all  incredible.  Memory 
was  equal  to  the  task,  and  the  earlier  Greeks  poems, 
memorized  by  the  authors  as  composed,  were  pre- 
served by  successive  generations  of  bards."  And 
again  he  says,  "It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
(to  us)  extraordinary  extent  to  which  the  Greeks 
were  able  to  develop  their  power  of  memorizing  en- 
abled them  often  to  trust  their  memory  where  mod- 

1  Encyclopedia  Britannica    (Eleventh  Edition). 


The  Period  of  Manuscript  Literature          25 

ern  students  would  be  helpless  without  the  written 
(or  printed)  word.  .  .  .  The  boys  in  school  were 
given  as  their  daily  task  the  memorizing  of  the 
works  of  the  poets,  and  what  was  begun  under  com- 
pulsion appears  to  have  been  continued  in  later  life 
as  a  pleasure."  3  And  in  the  preface  of  the  book 
from  which  the  foregoing  statements  are  quoted,  the 
author  says,  "It  is  evident  that  there  were  literary 
productions  in  advance,  and  probably  very  far  in 
advance,  of  the  discovery  or  evolution  of  literary 
characters,  and  also  long  after  the  use  of  script  by 
authors,  the  greater  portion  of  the  public  in  all 
ancient  lands  received  their  literature,  not  through 
their  eyes,  but  through  their  ears, — not  by  reading 
the  text,  but  by  listening  to  reciters,  story-tellers,  and 
'rhapsodists.'  '  (P.  xiv.)  We  quote  the  follow- 
ing from  Mr.  E.  C.  Richardson:  "The  Vedas 
were,  it  is  alleged,  handed  down  for  centuries  by 
a  rigidly  trained  body  of  memorizers.  The  memor- 
izing of  Confucian  books  by  Chinese  students  and 
of  the  Koran  by  Moslem  students  is  very  exact."  4 
"The  office  of  reading,"  says  Professor  Dobschiitz, 
"was  esteemed  so  highly  that  it  was  regarded  as 
based  on  a  special  spiritual  gift.  .  .  .  The  reader  had 
to  know  his  text  almost  entirely  by  heart  to  do  it 
well.  From  the  'Shepherd  of  Hermes/  a  very  in- 
teresting book  written  by  a  Roman  layman  about  140 
A.  D.,  we  learn  that  some  people  gathered  often, 

3  Authors  and  Their  Public,  pp.  63,  106. 

4  International    Standard  Bible  Ency.,   art.  "Books." 


26  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

probably  daily,  for  the  special  purpose  of  common 
reading  and  learning.  But  even  granted  that  the 
memory  of  these  men  was  not  spoiled  by  too  much 
reading,  as  is  ours,  so  that  by  hearing  they  were 
able  to  learn  by  heart  (it  is  said  of  some  rabbis  that 
they  did  not  lose  one  word  of  all  their  master  had 
told  them,  and,  in  fact,  the  Talmudic  literature  was 
transmitted  orally  for  centuries),  nevertheless,  we 
must  assume  that  these  Christians  had  their  private 
copies  of  the  Bible  at  home."  5  Prescott  says  of  the 
pre-historic  Mexico:  "Besides  the  hieroglyphic  maps, 
the  traditions  of  the  country  were  embodied  in  songs 
and  hymns.  .  .  .  These  were  various,  embracing  the 
mystic  legends  of  a  heroic  age,  the  warlike  achieve- 
ments of  their  own,  or  the  softer  tales  of  love  and 
pleasure."  6  Of  the  early  times  of  English  litera- 
ture, D'Israeli  states  that  "before  the  people  had 
national  books  they  had  national  songs,"  and  that 
"these  songs  and  these  fables,  these  proverbs  and 
these  tales, — all  these  were  a  library  without 
books."  7  And  an  anonymous  author,  recently  trav- 
eling in  a  remote  portion  of  northern  Albania,  re- 
cords it  that  "the  wild,  inaccessible  country  is  un- 
der various  independent  tribes,  ruled  by  a  chieftain 
according  to  unwritten  laws  handed  down  orally 
from  remote  ages."  He  also  states  that  "the  coun- 
try has  no  written  language  and  no  literature."  8 

8  The  Influence  of  Bible  on  Civilisation,  pp.  13,  14. 
'The  Conquest  of  Mexico,  Vol.  i,  p.  in. 
7  Amenities  of  Literature. 
'The  Near  East,  p.  40. 


The  Period  of  Manuscript  Literature          27 

Thus,  from  very  early  if  not  from  pre-historic 
times,  down  to  the  present  moment  there  have  been 
repeated  if  not  continuous  examples,  and  widespread 
on  the  earth  if  not  universal,  of  the  place  and  im- 
portance of  oral  tradition  as  a  datum  of  history  and 
source  of  literature.  Says  Professor  Sayce :  "Ar- 
chaeological research  is  constantly  demonstrating  how 
dangerous  it  is  to  question  or  deny  the  veracity  of 
tradition  or  of  an  ancient  record  until  we  know  all 
the  facts."  9  This  much  must  be  conceded,  in  hold- 
ing that  oral  tradition  is  secondary  to  written 
records.  The  reason  for  their  secondary  value  is 
obvious  from  the  fact  that  uear  impressions  tend 
to  be  less  exact  than  eye  impressions  because  they 
depend  on  a  brief  sense  impression,  while  in  reading 
the  eye  lingers  until  the  matter  is  understood. 
Memory  copy  tends  to  fade  away  rapidly.  This  is 
shown  by  the  great  variety  in  the  related  legends  of 
closely  related  tribes."  10 

But  from  very  early  times — just  how  early  can- 
not be  determined,  inasmuch  as  historiographers  and 
chronologists  differ  as  to  the  beginning-times  of  writ- 
ten literature  in  the  respective  civilizations — literary 
compositions  of  every  sort,  both  sacred  and  pro- 
fane, were  recorded  and  disseminated,  so  far  as  they 
were  recorded  and  disseminated,  by  the  tedious  and 
laborious  process  of  writing  or  carving  or  impress- 
ing by  hand.  Literature,  almost  entirely,  through- 

*  Monument  Facts,  p.  60. 

"  International  Standard  Bible  Ency.,  art  "Books." 


28  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

out  this  long  period  was  contained  in  and  continued 
by  the  manuscripts.  The  cuneiform  writing  on  tab- 
lets and  cylinders,  though  so  voluminous  in  quantity, 
seems  to  have  been  lost  sight  of  and  disregarded 
for  millenniums  of  years  while  they  were  a  sealed  lit- 
erature; and  the  hieroglyphic  writing  of  Egypt  re- 
mained undeciphered  for,  perhaps,  an  equal  period  of 
time,  down  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
It  is  the  obvious  fact,  then,  that,  in  an  age  of  the 
world's  history  when  the  printing-press  with  its  al- 
most limitless  capacity  for  extending  and  preserving 
literature  was  yet  unknown,  all  literary  productions 
of  all  kinds — including  the  Bible — must  have  been 
meager  in  the  extreme  as  compared  with  the  present 
rapid  increase  of  the  printed  page  when  steam  and 
heat  and  electricity  are  motive  powers.  A  present- 
generation  occurrence  will  fitly  and  forcefully  illus- 
trate this  proposition:  It  will  be  recalled  to  mind 
that  the  Revised  New  Testament  was  issued  simul- 
taneously by  the  Oxford  Press  in  both  London  and 
Nc\v  York  on  a  designated  day  of  1881 ;  it  may  not 
be  remembered,  however,  that  an  enterprising 
Chicago  daily  had  the  entire  New  Testament  tele- 
graphed from  New  York,  immediately  at  its  issue 
in  that  City,  in  order  that  it  might  be  secured  and 
printed  in  Chicago  in  an  enormous  edition  a  few 
hours  in  advance  of  the  mails  and  express,  put  into 
circulation  and  sold  to  the  financial  advantage  of 
that  newspaper.  Compare  that  achievement  of 
printing  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  New  Testa- 


The  Period  of  Manuscript  Literature          29 

ment,  accomplished  within  a  few  hours'  time,  with 
the  transcription  of  a  single  copy  of  a  book,  and  you 
must  have  a  new  sense  of  the  importance  of  the 
printing-press  in  relation  to  all  literature.  And 
contrast,  if  you  will,  the  slow  and  inadequate  com- 
position and  dissemination  of  intelligence  by  the  la- 
borious process  of  handwriting  with  the  present-day 
marvelous  facilities  for  publication  when  the  lino- 
type is  mostly  employed  in  setting  the  type-plates  for 
periodicals  and  books,  and  when  a  single  press  will 
print  and  fold  about  thirty  thousand  copies  of  a 
metropolitan  journal  in  one  hour's  time,  and,  from 
both  comparison  and  contrast,  you  must  have  a 
higher  appreciation  for  the  printing-press  as  an  in- 
strumentality for  the  spreading  of  intelligence  and 
the  progress  of  civilization. 

Consider,  too,  the  all  but  prohibitive  cost  of 
books,  when  made  by  hand  and  estimated  by  the 
labor  of  their  making,  and  you  must  have  a  new 
and  a  truer  basis  of  valuation  for  manuscript  litera- 
ture. A  few  facts  and  incidents  will  illustrate  and 
enforce  the  foregoing  observation:  It  required 
nearly  three  years  in  the  time  of  Wycliffe  (who 
died  in  1384)  for  a  copyist  to  transcribe  the  entire 
Bible,  and  this  labor  cost  the  equivalent  of  $1,500. 
Even  tracts  of  Wycliffe,  containing  isolated  texts  of 
scripture,  were  sold  for  forty  or  fifty  dollars  as  the 
money  of  that  day  would  be  estimated  in  our  cur- 
rency. (Christ  in  the  Gospels.)  It  is  credibly 
stated  that,  in  the  century  before  Wycliffe's  time, 


30  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

"an  ordinary  folio  volume  probably  cost  400  to  500 
franks,"  or  the  sum  of  eighty  to  a  hundred  dollars 
in  present  values.  Very  few  books  could  be  bought 
at  all,  at  some  periods  of  time,  for  less  than  the 
equivalent  of  one  hundred  dollars;  and  illuminated 
or  illustrated  and  embellished  books,  of  which  there 
then  were  and  there  yet  remain  exquisite  examples, 
cost  much  more  than  this  amount.  And  yet  books 
never  seem  to  have  been  a  "drug"  upon  the  market. 
And  while  it  required  four  years  for  Gutenberg  to 
print  his  first  edition  of  the  Bible  (consisting  of  a 
hundred  copies)  yet  the  time  employed  in  its  mak- 
ing, if  compared  with  the  time  and  labor  requisite 
for  the  transcription  of  a  hundred  copies  of  the 
Bible  by  hand,  would  represent  a  net  gain  or  saving, 
in  time,  of  nearly  seventy-five  years  and,  in  money, 
of  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  would 
represent  other  values:  as  uniformity  of  text, 
economy  of  material,  and  larger  aggregate  immunity 
from  error.  It  is  stated  that  the  common  price  of 
a  Bible  in  the  thirteenth  century  ran  as  high  as  $300, 
and  that  in  the  fourteenth  century  Bibles  were  sold 
for  as  much  as  $2,000.  It  is  said  that  Bibles  were 
left  as  precious  bequests  to  relatives  and  friends  and 
that  they  were  even  given  as  security  for  large  debts. 
The  cost  of  materials  and  of  the  transcription  of 
books  added  immensely  to  their  appraised  valuation 
in  the  different  ages.  We  quote  from  a  volume  by 
Mr.  Geo.  H.  Putnam  concerning  books  and  their 
making  in  pre-Christian  times:  "It  appears  from 


The  Period  of  Manuscript  Literature         3 1 

such  references  as  we  find  to  the  prices  paid  that,  as 
compared  with  other  luxuries,  books  remained  very 
costly  up  to  the  time  of  the  Roman  occupation  of 
Greece,  or  about  150  B.  C.  .  .  .  Plato  is  reported 
to  have  paid  for  three  books  of  Philolaus,  which 
Dion  bought  for  him  in  Sicily,  three  Attic  talents, 
equal  in  our  currency  to  $3,240, — and  the  equiva- 
lent, of  course,  of  a  much  larger  sum,  estimated  in 
its  purchasing  power  for  food.  .  .  .  The  cost  of 
books  depended,  of  course,  largely  upon  the  cost  of 
papyrus,  for  which  Greece  was  dependent  upon 
Egypt.  An  inscription  of  the  year  407  B.  C.,  quoted 
by  Rangabe,  gives  the  price  of  a  sheet  of  papyrus 
at  one  drachma  and  two  oboli,  the  equivalent  of 
about  twenty-five  cents."11  Ptolemy  Philadelphus 
is  said  to  have  authorized  the  giving  of  fifteen 
talents  of  silver,  the  equivalent  of  about  $16,200,  in 
addition  to  a  shipment  of  corn,  to  the  famishing 
Athenians  for  certain  authenticated  copies  of  the 
tragedies  of  ^Ischylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripides  for 
the  Alexandrian  Library.  (Putnam.)  And,  later, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  Christian  Era,  the  price  of 
copying  books  was  estimated  by  the  number  of  lines 
they  contained.  Diocletian,  it  is  said,  fixed  the  wage 
of  the  copyers  of  his  time  at  forty  denarii  or  at  about 
twenty-five  cents  per  one  hundred  lines.  Late  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  the  price  of  transcribing  a  Bible 
containing  a  commentary  thereon,  written  in  a  fair 
hand,  ranged  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two 

11  Authors  and  Their  Public,  pp.  93,  94. 


32  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  though  earlier  in  that  cen- 
tury the  purchasing  power  of  money  was  so  great 
and  labor  so  cheap  that  two  arches  of  London 
Bridge  were  built  for  the  equivalent  of  a  hundred 
and  twenty-five  dollars,  or  less  than  the  cost  of 
transcribing  a  Bible  with  a  commentary.  In  1272 
the  wages  of  a  laboring-man  were  less  than  four 
cents  a  day,  while  the  price  of  a  Bible  at  that  time 
was  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  dollars.  (The 
Book  Record.)  In  other  words,  a  common  laborer 
must  then  have  toiled  for  thirteen  years,  according 
to  the  current  labor  values  of  the  time,  in  order  to 
secure  the  purchase-price  of  a  Bible;  though  in  an 
age  when  few  could  read,  this  was  not  so  large  a 
deprivation.  Now,  the  American  Bible  Society  can 
furnish  the  entire  Christian  scriptures,  creditably 
bound  in  cloth  with  fair  and  readable  type,  for  less 
than  twenty-five  cents.  A  common  laborer,  who 
generally  has  a  rudimentary  education  at  least,  can 
now  secure  the  Bible  at  the  purchase-price  of  two 
hours'  toil,  or  the  New  Testament  for  less  than  a 
half-hour's  toil;  and,  what  is  more,  the  common 
laborer  can,  in  most  instances,  not  only  read  the 
Bible  but  has  the  respite  from  excessive  labor  to  do 
so. 


IV 

THE  AMPLITUDE  OF  THE  BIBLE  IN  MANUSCRIPT 

•K  TOTWITHSTANDING  the  more  limited  and 
JJ%  the  less  reliable  sources  of  literature  (includ- 
ing the  Bible)  there  was,  nevertheless,  substantial 
and  even  abundant  material  of  a  historical  character 
from  which  to  construct  a  bridge  of  the-continuous- 
history-of-literature  over  and  beyond  the  gulf  of  the 
Dark  Ages.  The  preservation  and  circulation  of 
literature,  not  only  sacred  but  profane  as  well,  by 
means  of  written  symbols,  is  not  limited  to  one  lan- 
guage, nor  to  mediaeval  times, — nor  to  the  Christian 
Era — but  reaches  back  into  a  remote  age.  Consid- 
ering the  slow  and  laborious  process  of  book-making 
and  the  generally  low  stage  of  interest  in  literature 
throughout  wide  areas  of  the  earth  and  for  lengthy 
periods  of  time,  the  amplitude  of  the  manuscript 
productions  of  the  world,  as  evidenced  in  the  ancient 
libraries  and  religious  "houses"  with  their  various 
utilities,  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  history — a  veritable 
wonder  of  the  world. 

Note  an  incident  of  the  New  Testament  record 
which,  within  the  realm  of  sacred  literature,  illus- 
trates the  process  by  which  literature  in  general  has 
been  disseminated:  We  are  informed  in  one  of  the 

33 


34  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

books  of  the  New  Testament  that,  early  in  the 
fourth  decade  of  the  first  century  (on  the  first  Pente- 
cost after  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus),  "there  were 
dwelling  at  Jerusalem,  Jews,  devout  men  out  of 
every  nation  under  heaven."  And  in  the  effusion  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  which  came  upon  them  then  and 
there,  they  exclaimed — amazed  and  bewildered — 
"How  hear  we  every  man,  in  our  own  tongue, 
wherein  we  were  born?  Parthians,  and  Medes,  and 
Elamites,  and  the  dwellers  in  Mesopotamia,  and 
in  Judea,  and  Cappadocia,  in  Pontus,  and  Asia, 
Phrygia,  and  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt,  and  in  the  parts 
of  Libya  about  Cyrene,  and  strangers  of  Rome, 
Jews  and  proselytes,  Cretes  and  Arabians,  we  do 
hear  them  speak  in  our  tongues  the  wonderful  works 
of  God."  (The  Acts  2:8-11.)  As  many  as  fifteen 
distinct  nationalities  and  races  were  represented  in 
this  assemblage.  It  was,  indeed,  a  cosmopolitan 
congregation  and  was  composed  of  inhabitants  from 
the  then  known  world ;  and  nothing  is  more  probable 
than  that  representatives  of  those  gathered  at  Jeru- 
salem were  among  the  "three  thousand"  added  to 
that  primitive  company  of  believers  on  that  occasion 
and  that,  when  many  of  them  went  back  to  their 
native  lands,  they  returned  instinct  with  devotion  to 
their  new-found  Master,  and  that,  in  their  own  re- 
spective and  widely  separated  countries — under  the 
impact  of  this  new  and  inspiring  hope  which  had 
been  begotten  within  them  at  Jerusalem — they 
sowed  the  seed  which  bore  the  precious  fruitage  of 


The  Amplitude  of  the  Bible  in  Manuscript       35 

evangelism  in  many  lands  throughout  the  early  cen- 
turies of  our  Era.  Indeed,  the  wide  dispersion  of 
the  first  Apostles  and  disciples  of  Jesus  to  the  East, 
to  the  West,  and  to  the  South — into  eastern  Asia, 
into  Europe,  and  into  northern  Africa — in  the  face 
of  efforts  to  repress,  and  over  obstacles  and  against 
contending  forces  everywhere,  can  best  or  only  be 
accounted  for  on  some  such  historical  presupposition 
as  is  brought  to  our  notice  in  the  book  of  The  Acts. 
The  first  Apostles,  in  accordance  with  the  terms 
of  the  Great  Commission,  were  supernaturally  en- 
dowed with  "the  gift  of  tongues"  in  order  to  be  the 
message-bearers  of  the  truth  unto  the  nations.  But 
this  special  endowment  of  Apostles  did  not  extend 
to  the  peoples  unto  whom  the  revealed  truth  was 
sent  nor,  indeed,  to  their  successors  in  commission. 
The  recipients  of  the  gospel  message  wrote  and 
spoke  in  many  languages  and  dialects,  and  thus  there 
was  created  a  need  and  demand  for  the  word  of 
God  in  the  vernacular  of  many  peoples.  The  many 
versions  made,  soon  afterwards,  into  the  different 
languages  and  dialects  were  the  evidences  of  this 
demand  and  of  its  urgency  and  pertinency  when  the 
Apostles  with  their  supernatural  endowments  were 
no  longer  accessible  or  available.  In  evidence  of 
this  fact  we  cite  the  career  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  It 
is  an  established  fact  of  history  that  the  propa- 
gandistic  labors  of  Paul,  within  a  little  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  extended  from  Jerusalem,  the 
capital  of  the  religious  world,  to  Rome,  the  seat  of 


36  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

world-empire.  This  fact  witnessed,  indubitably,  to 
the  westward  growth  of  the  Christian  Church.  And 
we  have  traditions,  literary,  historical,  and  archas- 
logical  evidences  which  indicate,  conclusively,  that 
others  of  the  Apostles  and  early  Christian  teachers 
went  eastward  and  southward  from  that  common 
center  at  Jerusalem  to  Kgypt  and  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  Euxine;  toward,  if  not  unto, 
Babylon,  Armenia,  1  lindustan,  and  the  coasts  of 
Ceylon.  And  in  all  these  sections,  over  what  may 
be  called  "the  known  world"  of  the  time,  these 
Christian  propagandists — Apostles  and  disciples  of 
Jesus — planted  churches  which,  many  of  them  for 
long  after,  became  centers  of  evangelizing  power. 

The  Apostles  spoke  and  wrote  in  Greek,  save  as 
they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and  prompted 
by  the  needs  of  the  people  at  Pentecost.  But  in 
every  place  whither  the  Apostles  were  sent  and 
where  converts  to  the  Christian  faith  were  gathered 
through  their  preaching,  there  remained  the  oppor- 
tunity for  and  the  need  of  the  scriptures  which  had 
been  the  burden  of  the  apostolic  message,  when 
these  first  propagandists  of  Christianity  had  passed 
on  to  other  needy  places.  The  after  decline  of  the 
Greek  language  as  the  spoken  tongue  and  the  de- 
velopment or  adoption  of  other  tongues  facilitated 
in  consequence  the  multiplication  of  the  scriptures 
or  parts  thereof,  or  communications  from  leaders 
and  teachers,  in  the  vernacular  of  different  races  or 
families  of  mankind.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that, 


The  Amplitude  of  the  Bible  in  Manuscript       37 

during  the  first  three  centuries  of  the  Christian  Era, 
and  even  when  the  Bible  was  interdicted,  every 
Christian  who  could  possess  it  tried  to  own  at  least 
some  one  book  of  the  New  Testament. 

Furthermore,  it  is  the  fact  sustained  by  scholar- 
ship and  history  that  numerous  versions  of  the 
scriptures  were  made,  in  the  early  Christian  cen- 
turies, into  other  languages  and  dialects; — the  Sla- 
vonic, Arabic,  Persic,  and  Armenian  tongues;  earlier 
still  into  the  Gothic  tongue  and  the  Ethiopic  dialects 
of  Abyssinia;  and  still  earlier  into  the  Coptic,  Latin, 
and  Syriac  dialects.  [It  was  the  estimate  of  Gibbon, 
the  historian  of  the  Roman  Empire,  that  there  were 
probably  six  millions  of  avowed  Christians  when 
Constantine  began  to  patronize  Christianity  in  313 
A.  D.  And,  allowing  that  there  was  one  copy  of 
the  scriptures  (of  the  New  Testament  or  one  of  its 
books)  to  each  three  hundred  Christians — not  an 
extravagant  supposition,  considering  what  the  sacred 
writings  were  to  the  early  believers — there  were 
probably  not  fewer  than  twenty  thousand  copies  of 
the  New  Testament  or  individual  books  or  their 
parts  scattered  throughout  the  world  when  Chris- 
tianity came  into  royal  favor  in  the  Roman  Empire.] 
These  unnumbered  copies  in  Greek — which  long 
continued  to  be  the  spoken  language  for  a  large  part 
of  the  world's  population — together  with  the  vast 
number  of  versions  made  from  the  original  Greek 
into  the  languages  and  dialects  of  adjacent  and  con- 
temporaneous peoples  in  order  to  meet  the  need  of 


38  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

the  first  Christian  Churches  in  wide  areas  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  down  to  and  after  its  fall,  suggests 
the  amplitude  of  the  sacred  writings  in  manuscript 
during  the  early  centuries  of  our  Era.  This  is  pro- 
claimed as  from  the  house-top  in  the  large  and  con- 
stantly increasing  number  of  manuscripts,  in  differ- 
ent languages,  which  have  been  rescued  as  relics 
from  an  otherwise  chaotic  era.  It  is  the  estimate  of 
Dr.  Marvin  R.  Vincent  that  no  fewer  than  3,829 
manuscripts  have  been  discovered  and  catalogued. 
These  have  been  gathered  from  many  lands — Tur- 
key, Egypt,  the  ^gean  region,  Cyprus,  Greece, 
Italy,  ancient  Macedonia,  Palestine,  Africa,  Spain, 
the  Sinaitic  Peninsula,  Asia  Minor,  and  in  fact,  from 
all  Bible  lands,  and  are  preserved  in  the  world's 
greatest  libraries. 

Professor  Dobschiitz  summarizes  the  history  of 
the  v  ersions  and  translations  of  the  Bible,  through- 
out the  centuries  to  the  invention  of  printing,  as 
follows:  "In  the  first  period  we  found  the  Bible 
translated  from  the  Greek  into  Latin,  Syriac,  Coptic; 
in  the  next  period  Gothic,  Armenian,  Georgian, 
Libyan,  and  Ethiopic  were  added,  not  to  mention 
several  revisions  of  former  translations.  About  600 
A.  D.  the  Bible  was  known  in  eight  languages;  in 
each  of  these  there  had  been  several  attempts  at 
translating.  There  were  different  dialects,  too;  in 
Coptic  no  less  than  five.  The  spread  of  Christianity 
in  the  next  period  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  Bible 
is  translated — and  this  again  several  times — into 


The  Amplitude  of  the  Bible  in  Manuscript       39 

Arabic  and  Slavonic  from  the  Greek,  and  into  the 
German,  Anglo-Saxon,  Celtic,  and  French  from  the 
Latin — rather  should  I  say,  parts  of  the  Bible,  for 
it  was  only  parts  which  people  at  this  period  tried 
to  translate."  1  And  he  shows  us  how  this  move- 
ment to  give  the  Bible  to  the  people  in  their  own 
vernacular  spread — from  the  thirteenth  century  on 
until  the  invention  of  printing — into  south-eastern 
France,  over  Italy  and  Germany,  into  England  and 
Bohemia,  and,  possibly,  into  Scandinavia;  and  de- 
clares, truly,  "it  is  like  a  net  thrown  all  over 
Europe." 

lThe  Influence  of  the  Bible,  Etc.,  pp.  124,  125. 


Till.    HUMAN   ELEMI  NT    IN    UT1.RATURE 

Till  Bible  even  as  literature — and  both  in  its 
origin  and  history — is  a  human  as  well  as  a 
divine  book.  It  is  human  in  that  it  is  to  man  and  for 
man,  and  not  to  and  for  supernatural  intelligences 
or  the  conceived  populations  of  other  planets;  it  is 
divine  in  that  it  is  of  God  and  from  God.  There  is 
a  real  sense  in  which  the  definition  of  the  Bible  as 
given  by  Frederick  W.  Robertson  is  correct,  "The 
Bible  is  the  thoughts  of  God  in  the  words  of  men." 
And  we  would  hold  that  the  Bible  must  be  studied, 
if  in  a  scientific,  intelligent,  and  reverent  spirit, 
under  the  two-fold  conception  that  it  is  both  a  human 
and  a  divine  book.  And  we  believe  also  that  noth- 
ing can  ever  be  gained  for  the  Bible,  considering  it 
a  supernatural  book,  by  setting  up  any  erroneous  or 
untenable  hypotheses  concerning  its  origin,  char- 
acter, or  history  on  its  behalf.  And,  moreover,  the 
Bible  nowhere  and  never  makes  any  such  an  appeal 
on  its  own  behalf,  or  pleads  for  exemption  from  the 
accepted  principles  of  historical"  criticism.  ''The 
written  word  of  God,  like  the  Word  which  became 
flesh,"  says  Professor  G.  F.  Wright,  "must  be 
human  in  its  manward  aspect;  for  the  written  word 

40 


The  Hitman  Element  in  Literature          41 

is  divine  thought  manifest  in  human  language  as 
Christ  was  God  manifest  in  human  flesh.  As  the 
compound  personality  of  Christ  was  conditioned  by 
the  flesh,  so  the  compound  character  of  a  written 
revelation  is  conditioned  by  the  nature  of  language. 
As  God  in  becoming  incarnate  did  not  take  upon 
Himself  the  form  of  angels  but  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham, so  a  written  revelation  is  not  sent  in  a  form 
adapted  to  heavenly  beings  but  in  a  form  suited  to 
men."  *  And  if  the  Bible,  while  it  is  from  God,  is 
for  man  then  it  must  be  adapted  to  man's  receptive 
condition.  If  the  Bible  is  truly  a  "revelation"  then 
it  must  "reveal";  which  is  only  to  say  that  it  must 
be  given  in  terms  or  modes  of  expression  adapted 
or  accessible  to  the  human  capacity; — it  must  meet 
man's  condition  at  the  time  when  the  revelation  is 
given  as  well  as  his  condition  a  thousand  or  ten 
thousand  years  later;  or,  in  other  words,  "revela- 
tion" must  "reveal."  Revelation  has  thus  been 
progressive  up  to  the  period  of  its  fulness  or  up  to 
the  cycle  of  its  completion,  with  an  expansive  ca- 
pacity for  all  future  time.  Progressive  capacity  is 
essential  to  the  conception  of  a  revelation  that  is 
universal  and  final.  Borrowing  the  fine  expression 
of  Professor  A.  E.  Bruce,  revelation  "must  take  the 
recipients  of  benefits  along  with  it,  and  move  at  a 
pace  with  which  they  can  keep  up."  Thus,  revela- 
tion in  its  methods  accords  with  nature  in  that  it 
took  the  form  of  an  historical  movement  and  was 

1  Divine  Authority  of  the  Bible,  p.   103. 


42  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

subject  to  the  laws  of  periodic  development.  "The 
redemptive  purpose  of  God,"  declares  Professor 
Bruce,  "was  not  ushered  into  the  world  a  full-grown 
fact;  it  evolved  itself  by  a  regular  process  of  growth, 
and  the  process  was  marked  by  three  salient  fea- 
tures: slow  movement,  partial  action,  and  advance 
from  the  more  or  less  imperfect,  not  only  in  knowl- 
edge, but  also  in  morality."  And  he  says,  further, 
"God  had  to  teach  Israel  to  walk  in  the  paths  of 
righteousness  like  a  nurse  taking  a  child  by  the  arms, 
and  had  to  exercise  a  nurse-like  condescension  and 
patience  in  connection  with  the  self-imposed  task  of 
Israel's  moral  education,  and  to  become  as  a  child 
Himself,  speaking  in  broken  language  and  giving 
laws  of  a  very  rude  and  primitive  character  adapted 
to  the  condition  of  the  pupil."  ~ 

The  Bible  is,  truly,  a  supernatural  book.  One 
once  confessed  to  an  abounding  confidence  in  the 
plenary  inspiration  of  the  scriptures  in  that  he 
"accepted  the  Bible  from  'lid'  to  'lid' — and  includ- 
ing the  'lid.'  '  But  the  supernaturalism  which  we 
believe  belongs  to  or  inheres  in  the  Bible  does  not 
attach  to  the  "lids" — to  the  materials  by  means  of 
which  the  scriptures,  as  literature,  have  been  com- 
municated and  preserved  from  age  to  age.  (The 
fact  which  is  here  suggested  is  all  apart  from  the 
question  of  inspiration.)  God  wastes  no  energies 
in  a  miraculous  preservation  of  the  materials  of 
books, — not  even  of  the  materials  of  the  "good 

1  The-  Chief  End  jp$  Revelation,  pp.  99,  $34. 


The  Human  Element  in  Literature  43 

Book."  God  does  not  violate,  we  think,  the  great 
law  of  "parsimony"  by  exerting  either  superfluous 
or  supernatural  energies  for  the  accomplishment  of 
His  purposes.  It  was  only  when  King  Jehoiakim 
in  his  blind  rage  and  folly  cut  the  "roll"  in  pieces 
and  burnt  its  mutilated  fragments,  that  the  super- 
natural energies  were  called  into  requisition  to 
restore  the  "words  of  the  book,  which  Jehoiakim, 
king  of  Judah,  had  burned  with  fire."  (Jeremiah 
36:32.)  God  has,  however,  guarded,  preserved, 
and  treasured — and  in  a  marvelous,  not  to  say 
supernatural  manner — the  "revelation"  contained  in 
the  "good  Book"  so  that  no  age  has  been  left  with- 
out its  ample  and  unimpeachable  witness.  And  this 
is  all  that  we  may  reasonably  demand  for  a  revela- 
tion that  is  intended  and  destined  to  be  authoritative, 
universal,  and  final.  The  destruction  of  the  ma- 
terials of  books  does  not  weigh  if  the  contents  are 
preserved.  The  impious  King  of  Judah  did  not 
destroy  the  holy  law  of  God  when  he  utterly  de- 
stroyed the  parchment  upon  which  it  was  inscribed. 
What  mattered  it  if  the  "roll"  was  consumed  since 
God  had  His  faithful  prophet  and  his  scribe  to  pro- 
duce another  and  ampler  roll?  And  what  matters 
it  if  a  given  copy,  or  any  number  of  copies  of  a  book, 
or  of  the  Bible,  be  lost  or  destroyed  so  long  as  other 
unnumbered  copies  of  the  same  are  preserved  be- 
yond the  reach  of  bad  men  or  the  destructive  forces 
of  corroding  and  destroying  time?  It  does  not  mat- 
ter, supremely,  since  it  is  the  contents  and  not  the 


44  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

materials  of  a  book  that  claims  the  supreme  con- 
sideration. 

The  materials  which  embody  the  divine  revela- 
tion have  ever  been  subject  to  precisely  the  same 
exposures  and  vicissitudes  of  alternating  fortune  and 
misfortune  as  those  to  which  all  other  literary  pro- 
ductions have  been  subjected.  And,  furthermore, 
it  is  the  well-known  fact  that  the  "autograph"  copies 
or  the  first  writings  of  the  New  Testament  are  all 
lost,  and,  probably,  without  the  remotest  hope  of 
recovery.  They  are  not  even  mentioned  by  the 
authors  and  writers  who  succeeded  the  Apostles  as 
having  ever  been  seen  by  them.  The  conclusion  is 
forced  upon  us  that  these  first  copies  of  the  New 
Testament  writings  probably  all  perished  before  the 
close  of  the  first  century.  [The  "paper"  then  in 
common  use  was  that  made  from  the  Egyptian 
papyrus  plant,  and  this  all  perished  except  that  which 
had  been  fortuitously  (but  not  miraculously)  pre- 
served in  Egyptian  tombs  and  mummy-cases  or 
under  lava-beds  at  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum.  The 
oldest  of  the  existing  copies  of  the  scriptures  are  the 
Sinaitic  and  the  Vatican  Manuscripts  which  were 
written  in  the  Greek  language  on  vellum  parchment 
at  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  and  are 
thus  above  fifteen  and  a  half  centuries  old.]  In 
view  of  this  destruction  and  loss  of  the  originals  of 
the  New  Testament  writings,  we  may  "restore"  the 
"autographs"  of  our  scriptures  only  by  the  methods 
which  apply  equally  to  all  literature,  and  which  are 


The  Human  Element  in  Literature  45 

adequate  to  the  approximate  "restoration"  of  the 
scripture  text,  viz.,  by  the  translation  or  counter- 
translation  of  later  copies  and  the  versions,  back  to 
the  earlier  sources;  and  thus  come,  substantially,  to 
the  original  writings. 


VI 

MATERIALS   EMBODYING  LITERATURE 

THE  substances  upon  which  literature  has  been 
embodied  and  by  means  of  which  has  been  pre- 
served and  disseminated  are  matters  of  far  more 
importance  than  would  be  supposed  at  a  superficial 
reflection.  They  call  for  a  larger  consideration  than 
the  modern  state  and  stage  of  the  book-making  in- 
dustry might  seem  to  warrant.  Now,  if  a  book  is 
worn  out,  accidentally  destroyed,  or  "borrowed"  by 
some  "good  book-keeper"  and  not  returned,  it  is 
usually  an  easy  and  simple  matter  to  secure  another. 
Not  so,  previous  to  the  invention  of  printing.  For 
then,  the  cost  and  time  required  to  make  a  book  "by 
hand"  gave  to  each  single  copy  a  distinct  individu- 
ality and  also  a  correspondingly  increased  impor- 
tance. 

The  two  chief  desiderata  of  a  manuscript  book — 
of  a  written  production  which  was  intended  to  give 
currency  to  a  writer's  thoughts  and  at  the  same  time 
to  sexve  as  a  more  or  less  permanent  depository  of 
them — are  legibility  and  durability.  He  who  writes 
for  the  publicity  of  his  ideas  will  not  write  on  stone 
nor  on  clay;  and  he  who  writes  for  the  preservation 
of  his  ideas  will  not  write  on  ice  or  dust.  And  he 

46 


Materials  Embodying  Literature  47 

who  writes  that  his  thoughts  may  be  read  and  under- 
stood will  not  write  with  a  scrawl  nor  in  an  illegible 
"hand.11 

The  foregoing  observations  prompt  to  the  sug- 
gestion that  not  only  the  materials  upon  which  a 
literary  production  is  impressed  or  imprinted  must 
be  capable  of  easy  conveyance  or  circulation  but  also 
that  the  writing  itself  must  be  legible,  and  that  the 
materials  employed  must  be  proof  to  the  utmost  at- 
tainable extent  against  the  obliterations  of  use  and 
time.  Necessarily,  therefore,  an  achievement  so 
laborious  as  the  transcription  of  a  written  volume 
of  whatever  form  (and  especially  of  the  Bible  by 
reason  of  its  size,  character,  and  importance)  called 
for  a  correspondingly  larger  concern  and  care  as  to 
the  materials  employed  (including  both  the  ink  and 
the  substance  written  upon)  than  would  be  required 
in  the  making  of  a  printed  book  wherein  each  sep- 
arate volume  but  duplicates  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  other  volumes  made  from  the  same  plates.  This 
requirement  partly  explains  the  care  with  which  the 
ancient  manuscripts  were  made  or  copied.  It  was 
this  fact  that  made  every  copyist's  work  distinc- 
tively individualistic. 

The  permanency  and  durability  of  books  is  largely 
a  matter  of  relativity  and  fortuity.  We  quote  from 
Mr.  E.  C.  Richardson  concerning  the  factors  affect- 
ing the  survival  of  books:  "The  average  chance  of 
an  individual  book  for  long  life  depends  ( i )  on  the 
intrinsic  durability  of  its  material,  or  its  ability  to 


48  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

resist  hostile  environment,  (2)  on  isolation."  He 
says,  further:  "The  enemies  to  which  books  are 
exposed  are  various:  wind,  fire,  moisture,  mold, 
human  negligence,  vandalism,  and  human  use.  Some 
materials  are  naturally  more  durable  than  others. 
Stone  and  metal  inscriptions  survive  better  than 
wood  or  clay,  vellum  than  papyrus  or  paper.  On 
the  other  hand,  however,  if  isolated  or  protected 
from  hostile  environment,  very  fragile  material  may 
outlast  more  substantial.  Papyrus  has  survived  in 
the  mounds  of  Egypt,  and  unbaked  clay  tablets  in 
the  mounds  of  Babylonia,  while  millions  of  stone 
and  metal  inscriptions  written  thousands  of  years 
later  have  already  perished.  Here  the  factor  of 
isolation  comes  in.  Fire  and  pillage,  moth  and  rust, 
and  the  bookworm  destroy  for  the  most  part  with- 
out respect  of  persons.  .  .  .  An  unbaked  tablet 
which  has  survived  5,000  years  under  rubbish  may 
crumble  to  dust  in  five  years  after  it  has  been  dug 
up  and  exposed  to  air.  The  general  law  is  that 
value  tends  to  preserve,  and  it  has  been  remarked 
that  all  the  oldest  codices  which  have  survived  in 
free  environment  are  sumptuous  copies.  Literary 
value  on  the  other  hand  is,  on  the  whole,  a  factor 
of  destruction  for  the  individual  rather  than  for 
survival.  The  better  a  book  is  the  more  it  is  read, 
and  the  more  it  is  read,  the  faster  it  wears  out.  The 
worthless  book  on  the  top  shelf  outlasts  all  the 
rest."  1 

1  International  Standard  Bible  Ency.,  art.  "Books." 


Materials  Embodying  Literature  49 

There  is  a  department  connected  with  some  of 
the  libraries  of  this  or  other  countries  devoted  to 
the  specific  mission  of  repairing  dilapidated  or  time- 
worn  manuscripts  or  documents  which,  for  one  rea- 
son or  another,  it  is  desirable  to  preserve.  The 
following  is  reported  to  be  the  method  followed  at 
the  Wisconsin  Historical  Library:  The  first  thing 
done  is  to  place  the  document  between  wet  news- 
papers under  weight  and  leave  them  for  several 
hours.  This  removes  the  creases  and  the  dirt. 
They  are  then  put  between  wood  pulp  boards  and 
left  for  a  day  and  then  between  blotters  to  com- 
plete the  drying  process.  The  next  step  is  to  repair 
the  paper.  The  paper  in  some  of  these  documents 
is  so  old  and  fragile  that  rough  handling  will  de- 
stroy. Therefore  it  is  strengthened  by  a  sort  of 
transparent  cloth  on  both  sides  of  the  paper.  With 
some,  letters  need  to  be  mended  along  the  edges  with 
parchment  paper.  To  cover  holes  a  piece  of  paper 
is  glued  over  the  edges  and  is  left  larger  than  the 
holes  until  dry.  It  is  then  cut  down  to  the  proper 
size,  and  the  edges  sandpapered  until  it  is  smooth. 
It  is  then  ready  for  mounting  or  filing  for  a  con- 
tinued lease  of  existence. 

The  world  is  greatly  indebted  to  the  early  Jewish 
teachers  for  the  survival  of  ancient  written  docu- 
ments. The  ancient  Jew  brought  a  religious  devo- 
tion to  the  production  of  his  sacred  books — a  devo- 
tion bordering  on  veneration,  as  is  shown  conclu- 
sively by  the  "rules"  which  governed  him  in  their 


50  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

transcription.  These  are  indicated  in  the  following 
"directions'*  to  copyists,  quoted  from  an  old  vol- 
ume: "A  book  of  the  law  wanting  but  one  letter, 
with  one  letter  too  much,  or,  with  an  error  in  one 
single  letter;  written  with  anything  but  ink;  or  made 
from  the  skin  of  an  unclean  animal;  or  on  parch- 
ment not  purposely  prepared  for  that  use,  or  pre- 
pared by  any  but  an  Israelite;  or  on  parchment  tied 
together  by  'unclean'  strings,  shall  be  holden  to  be 
corrupt.  It  was  the  rule  that  no  word  should  be 
written  without  a  line  first  drawn  on  the  parchment; 
no  word  to  be  written  'by  heart,'  or  without  having 
been  first  orally  pronounced  by  the  writer;  that  no 
letter  should  be  joined  to  another  letter;  and  that, 
if  the  blank  space  cannot  be  seen  all  round  each  let- 
ter, the  roll  shall  be  'corrupt.'  There  were  settled 
rules  as  to  the  space  to  be  left  between  each  letter, 
and  word,  and  section."  2  In  addition  to  these  rules 
we  learn  from  another  and  authentic  source  that 
there  were  special  regulations  for  the  margins,  and 
for  the  number  of  lines  to  the  page,  or  to  the  col- 
umn of  the  roll;  that  the  sheet  of  the  book  must  be 
sewed  together  with  threads  made  of  the  dried  ten- 
dons of  clean  beasts;  that  every  sheet  of  the  roll 
must  be  sewed  to  the  next — that  even  one  loose  sheet 
makes  a  roll  "unfit"; — and  that  care  must  be  taken 
that  the  needle  does  not  pierce  the  letters.  It  is  a 
requirement  that  when  a  scribe  has  begun  to  write 
the  name  of  God  he  must  not  be  interrupted  till  he 

2  Prideau's  Connections. 


Materials  Embodying  Literature  51 

has  finished  it;  that  a  writing,  when  set  aside  to  dry, 
should  be  covered  with  a  cloth  to  protect  it  from 
dust;  and  that  to  turn  a  writing  downward  is  shame- 
ful. It  was  the  emphatic  injunction  that  scrupulous 
care  must  be  taken  in  writing  the  Names  of  God: 
before  writing  every  name  of  the  Deity,  the  scribe 
must  say,  "I  intend  to  write  the  Holy  frame" ;  other- 
wise the  roll  would  be  unfit.8 

Scarcely  less  of  concern  was  displayed  by  the 
early  Christians  in  copying  their  sacred  books  and 
even  the  classic  literature.  In  certain  periods  of  the 
Middle  Ages  the  value  and  sanctity  attributed  to  the 
transcription  of  a  book  is  set  forth  in  the  fact  that 
in  many  abbeys  every  Novice'  "was  expected  to 
bring  on  the  day  of  his  profession  as  a  'religious'  a 
volume  of  considerable  size  which  he  had  carefully 
copied  by  his  own  hands,"  somewhat  as  a  "the/is" 
is  a  requirement  for  graduation  by  some  modern 
institutions  of  learning. 

This  deep  concern  which  a  copyist  felt  for  his 
work — for  he  had  a  solicitude  that  his  copy  might 
endure  both  time  and  use  and  long  remain..,as  a 
monument  to  himself — lent  an  artistic  taste)  and, 
often,  a  religious  devotion  to  the  creditable  tran- 
scription of  a  book,  especially  to  the  copying  of  the 
Bible  or  a  part  of  the  Bible.  This  devotion  and 
concern  (often  witnessed  unto  in  annotations  in  the 
margin  or  at  the  close  of  the  transcribed  portion  of 
the  Bible)  made  a  copyist  scrupulously  honest  and 

3  The  Jewish  Encyclopedia. 


52  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

painstaking  in  his  task,  and  was  often  disclosed  in 
beautiful  ornamentation  and  artistic  embellishments. 
As  a  "royal"  example,  the  Codex  Rossancnsis,  a 
manuscript  containing  the  gospels  of  Matthew  and 
Mark,  made,  possibly,  in  the  sixth  century,  though 
discovered  in  Calabria  only  in  1879,  is  written  in 
silver  characters  on  purple-colored  vellum  and  has 
twelve  miniatures  of  great  interest  in  the  history  of 
Byzantine  art.  Another  manuscript  of  the  gospels 
(Codex  "N"),  the  leaves  of  which  are  scattered  in 
London,  Rome,  Vienna,  Petrograd,  and  its  native 
home  (Patmos),  is  also  written  on  purple-dyed  vel- 
lum in  silver  and  gold.  There  are  fragmentary 
remains  of  a  sumptuous  volume  of  the  Eusebian 
Canons  which  are  written  on  gilt  vellum  and  beauti- 
fully ornamented.  In  Trinity  college,  Dublin,  there 
is  a  famous  volume — the  Book  of  Kells.  This  is 
conceded  to  be  in  some  respects  the  finest  ancient 
manuscript  in  Europe,  having  no  equal  as  a  speci- 
men of  Irish  illumination  and  writing.  It  is  a  copy 
of  the  Gospels,  written,  it  is  believed,  about  the 
sixth  century  and  was  the  possession  of  the  Church 
of  Kells  until  it  came  into  the  custody  of  Trinity 
college  in  1 66 1.  A  space  of  this  book  measuring 
three-quarters  of  an  inch  by  one-half  an  inch,  ex- 
amined under  a  powerful  microscope,  was  found  to 
contain  no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
interlacements  of  a  slender  ribbon  pattern  formed 
with  white  lines  edged  by  black.  Professor  George 
F.  Wright  refers  to  a  remarkable  Spanish  manu- 


Materials  Embodying  Literature  53 

script  for  which  the  late  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan  paid  the 
sum  of  $30,000  in  1910.  It  is  an  Old  Latin  manu- 
script of  the  New  Testament,  the  work  of  a  Spanish 
Presbyter  named  Beatus,  and  by  whose  name  the 
codex  is  known,  written  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighth  century.  "What  attracted  Mr.  Morgan  was 
the  size  and  beauty  of  the  work.  It  was  a  large 
folio  containing  184  leaves  of  thick  vellum,  each 
leaf  measuring  21  by  14  inches;  its  binding  was 
elabox  ne;  and  it  contained  1 10  richly  colored  minia- 
tures.4 

Various  factors — religious,  artistic,  and  commer- 
cial— contributed  to  this  movement  toward  embel- 
lishment. The  growing  wealth,  at  times,  and  the 
higher  standards  of  civilization  at  certain  stages  of 
the  Middle  Ages  created  new  demands  for  illumi- 
nated and  embellished  manuscripts.  There  were 
manuscripts  with  representations  in  water-colors  in 
the  lower  margin;  little  pictures  were  inserted  into 
the  text  of  books;  and  initial  letters  of  books  or  of 
their  chapters  not  only  reflected  the  writer's  artistic 
accomplishments  but  also  served  as  expository  teach- 
ing upon  the  text  itself.  Of  early  achievements  in 
this  direction,  Professor  Dobschiitz  tells  us  that 
there  were  examples  of  sumptuous  books  of  finest 
parchment  in  which  the  text  was  not  only  written  in 
gold  and  silver  letters  but  with  margins  covered 
with  beautiful  paintings,  as  in  the  "Beatus"  manu- 
script, and  cites  as  a  conspicuous  example,  "A  copy 

4  Story  of  My  Life  and  Work,  pp.  403,  404. 


54  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

of  Genesis  in  Greek  at  the  Vienna  library  has  forty- 
eight  water-colors,  one  at  the  bottom  of  each  page, 
telling  the  same  story  as  the  text.  .  .  .  And  this 
manuscript  does  not  stand  alone;  it  is  but  one  of  a 
large  group  of  illuminated  manuscripts.  This 
sumptuous  appearance  may  be  taken  as  a  sign  of  the 
value  attached  to  the  Bible.  Persecuted  hitherto,  it 
became  the  ruler  of  the  Christian  empire,  invested 
with  all  the  glory  of  royalty."  5  It  has  been  said 
concerning  manuscript  books  that  "the  missals  and 
office  books,  and  the  prayer  books  made  for  royal 
personages  at  this  time"  (during  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury) uare  yet  counted  among  the  best  examples  of 
book-making  the  world  has  ever  seen."  Of  a  rare 
and  very  valuable  collection  of  books  and  manu- 
scripts assembled  by  the  late  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan 
under  the  discriminating  and  painstaking  direction 
of  a  Columbia  University  professor,  a  writer  in  a 
New  York  daily  says:  "Massive  jeweled  manu- 
script covers,  a  thousand  and  more  years  old,  are 
there,  and  marvelous  hand-illuminated  manuscripts, 
their  gorgeous  colorings  and  exquisite  workman- 
ship, the  result  of  years  of  toil  by  ancient  monks 
and  mediaeval  artists.  Many  of  them  were  once  the 
dearest  pride  and  delight  of  kings  and  emperors  and 
popes.  Only  potentates  such  as  these  could  com- 
mand the  services  of  the  men  who  produced  most  of 
the  collection." 

'The  Influence  of  the  Bible,  Etc,  pp.  30,  31. 


VII 


VARIETIES    AND    CHANGES    IN    THE    MATERIALS    OF 

BOOKS 

THE  materials  upon  which  literature  has  been 
embodied,  and  the  changes  and  improvements 
which  these  materials  have  undergone  from  age  to 
age,  opens  up  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters 
of  bibliographical  science  and  of  the  world's  history. 
A  knowledge  of  the  materials  successively  used  in 
the  book-making  industry,  and  of  the  improvements 
through  which  these  have  continually  passed,  to- 
gether with  the  various  kinds  of  the  completed 
products,  the  style  of  writing  (there  is  a  "gait"  of 
hand  as  well  as  of  foot) ,  and  certain  distinguishable 
characteristics  of  the  literature  of  the  different 
periods,  all  assist  in  fixing  with  approximate  cer- 
tainty the  date  at  which  a  manuscript  was  produced. 
In  considering  the  materials  of  books  it  needs  to 
be  held  in  mind  that  the  time  of  a  manuscript's  pro- 
duction was  seldom  affixed  to  it  until  a  late  date; 
that  must  be  determined  or  inferred  from  collateral 
data.  We  would  instance  the  "water  marks"  of 
manufactured  paper  as  an  example  of  these  col- 
lateral data  helping  to  determine  the  age  of  a  manu- 
script. It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  every  paper 

55 


56  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

manufactory  has  its  own  individual  mark  of  identi- 
fication for  its  output.  This  is  its  protective  "water 
mark"  and  is  impressed  in  the  texture  or  fiber  of 
every  sheet  made,  and  at  regular  intervals  in  the 
sheet.  This  is  by  no  means  an  exclusively  modern 
device  of  authentication,  for  these  were  known  as 
early  as  the  thirteenth  century.  In  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, when  the  quality  of  the  paper  was  improved, 
the  "water  marks"  became  more  elaborate  and,  as 
early  as  the  sixteenth  century,  the  name  of  the  maker 
of  the  paper  was  inserted.  These  marks  of  identi- 
fication greatly  aid  the  antiquarian  student  in  fixing 
the  date  of  any  writing.  They  are  often,  too,  of 
legal  significance,  inasmuch  as  important  cases  in 
courts  of  law  in  our  times — and  earlier  times — have 
been  known  to  turn  upon  such  facts  of  evidence  as 
the  "water  marks"  of  the  paper  used  in  documents, 
as  other  cases  have  turned  upon  the  kind  or  quality 
of  the  ink  or  the  "hand"  in  which  the  documents  at 
issue  were  written.  An  incident  narrated  in  a  book 
by  Dr.  N.  D.  Hillis  may  not  be  historical  though  it 
does  illustrate  what  has  often  actually  occurred: 
"In  looking  at  the  thick  white  paper,  upon  a  sheet 
of  which  the  guide  said  that  the  deed  had  been  writ- 
ten, John  noticed  that  it  was  the  usual  parchment 
paper  of  the  time — a  paper  strong,  and  made  of 
linen,  so  that  it  might  survive  the  rough  usage  of 
the  settler's  cabin.  Holding  it  up  between  his  eyes 
and  the  sun  he  noticed  this  water-mark  and  stamp— 
'C.  Saur,  Philadelphia,  1787.'  The  purported  deed 


Varieties  and  Changes  in  Materials  of  Books        57 

was  dated  1740."  l  The  press  dispatches  some  time 
ago  reported  a  case  before  the  Senate  in  one  of  our 
states  in  which  the  conviction  or  the  acquittal  of  the 
defendant  turned,  largely,  upon  the  quality  of  the 
ink  which  had  been  used  in  signing  a  certain  check, 
given  in  payment  of  a  claim.  It  was  admitted  by 
experts  on  both  sides  that  the  ink  employed  in  sign- 
ing the  check  was  of  a  different  quality  than  that 
upon  which  the  stub  of  the  check  had  been  filled  out, 
and  that  the  writing  on  stub  and  check,  respectively, 
had  not  been  made  at  the  same  time. 

It  is  evident  then  that  the  materials  themselves 
and  the  changes  through  which  they  passed  in  the 
process  of  their  improvement,  the  ink  and  its  con- 
stituents, the  uhand"  of  the  writer  and,  as  well,  the 
peculiarities  of  the  author's  style  of  thought  and 
expression  as  evidenced  by  his  other  and  well-known 
composition  (there  is  a  ugait"  of  mind  as  well  as 
of  walk) — all  become,  so  to  speak,  the  "water 
marks"  which  determine  or  help  to  determine,  ap- 
proximately, the  time  at  which  a  book  or  writing 
was  made  or  produced.  To  illustrate:  If  the  anti- 
quarian should  "unearth"  a  manuscript  having  evi- 
dences of  great  antiquity  and  should  ascertain  that 
it  was  written  upon  "cotton  paper"  that  fact  would 
assure  him,  without  any  additional  evidence  what- 
ever, that  the  document  could  not  be  much,  if  any, 
earlier  than  the  ninth  century,  for  it  was  then  that 
cotton  paper  began  to  displace  the  Egyptian  papyrus. 

1  The  Quest  of  John  Chapman. 


5  6  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

Or,  if  the  writing  was  upon  alinen  paper"  then  he 
would  be  assured  by  the  same  kind  of  evidence  that, 
probably,  it  was  not  made  before  the  fourteenth 
century  when  paper  made  from  linen  rags  first  came 
into  more  common  use. 


VIII 

PARCHMENT  AND  VELLUM 

skins  of  animals — sheep,  lambs,  and 
and,  sometimes,  of  antelopes,  goats, 
asses,  and  swine — have  served,  and  from  the  earliest 
pse  of  written  language,  as  the  favored  and  the  best 
material  upon  which  to  write.  By  different  modes 
of  treatment  the  skins  of  animals  were  converted 
into  "leather,"  "parchment,"  and  Vellum,"  respec- 
tively, as  the  finished  product.  Leather,  tanned 
soft,  and  usually  dyexi  red  or  yellow,  was  the  ma- 
terial earliest  used  by  the  Hebrews.  Upon  this  they 
wrote  their  statutes  and  religious  history,  and  espe- 
cially the  Scroll  of  the  Law.  The  Yemanite  Rolls 
(Pentateuch  and  other  writings)  are  all  of  red  skin; 
and  the  Pentateuch  rolls  for  the  Jews  of  a  certain 
section  of  China  are  of  white  leather.1  According 
to  Ctesias  and  Herodotus,  the  royal  archives  of 
ancient  Persia  were  written  on  leather.  Extant 
leather  rolls  are  ascribed  to  the  date  of  about  2,000 
B.  C.  And  there  are  treasured  skin-rolls,  in  the 
British  Museum  arfd  elsewhere,  which  are  believed 
to  have  been  prepared  and  inscribed  as  early  as 
1,500  B.  C. 

xThe  Jewish  Encyclopedia. 

59 


60  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

Parchment,  also  made  from  skins,  was  prepared 
by  a  different  process  than  the  tanning  of  leather. 
The  word  "parchment"  comes  from  the  name  of  the 
city  of  ancient  Mysia — Pergamos  or  Pergamum — 
where  its  manufacture  was  originated  and  was  car- 
ried on  for  centuries.  Parchment,  though  known 
for  centuries  before  the  Christian  Era,  was  used  by 
the  Greek  and  Roman  writers  to  only  a  limited  ex- 
tent for  a  period  of  some  centuries,  owing  to  their 
continued  preference  for  the  papyrus  production. 
The  more  general  use  of  parchment  was  finally  ac- 
celerated by  necessity,  and  on  this  wise :  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus  (prompted  perhaps  by  envy  for  the 
growing  literary  achievements  of  the  kings  of  Per- 
gamos and  by  jealousy  for  the  supremacy  of  Alex- 
andria) laid  an  embargo  upon  the  exportation  of 
the  papyrus,  then  exclusively  produced  in  Egypt. 
This  restriction  necessitated  and  accelerated  the 
manufacture  of  parchment  and  thus  stimulated  its 
use,  though  papyrus  continued  to  be,  until  after  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  Era,  the  more  common 
and  the  cheaper  though  less  durable  material  for 
receiving  and  perpetuating  literature. 

Parchment  is  not  only  one  of  the  earliest — and 
the  very  best — but  next  to  the  baked  tablets,  the 
most  durable  material  for  all  written  productions. 
The  employment  of  parchment  to  record  and  pre- 
serve literature  spread  from  Pergamos  throughout 
Europe  and,  because  of  its  superior  quality  and  its 
greater  durability,  came  into  the  preeminence  which 


Parchment  and  Vellum  61 

it  held  until  the  invention  of  paper.  Most  of  the 
existing  manuscripts  of  a  greater  age  than  the  sixth 
century  are  written  on  parchment.  Indeed,  its  use 
for  important  and  valuable  documents,  as  embossed 
records  and  resolutions  of  respect,  and  diplomas  and 
the  like,  has  survived  unto  the  present  time. 

Vellum  is  the  designation  for  a  finer  quality  of 
writing  material  made  from  calf  skins  or  skins  of 
antelopes.  Some  of  the  oldest,  best,  and  clearest  of 
the  existing  copies  of  the  Bible — notably,  the  Vati- 
can and  the  Sinaitic  manuscripts — are  written  on 
vellum. 

The  skins  of  animals,  however  prepared  to  re- 
ceive writing,  were  cut  into  strips  and,  at  the 
first,  were  fastened  together  in  a  continuous  roll — 
sometimes  to  the  extent  of  a  hundred  feet  or  more 
in  length.  The  last  strip  of  the  manuscript  was 
attached  to  a  reed  or  stick,  called  the  umbilicus, 
around  which,  somewhat  as  a  mounted  map  or  a 
window-shade,  the  whole  length  was  rolled.  It  is 
to  be  remembered  that  the  first  books,  whether  of 
parchment  or  papyrus,  were  not  made  up  of  leaves 
and  pages  but  of  rolls — were,  literally,  'Volumes." 
These  rolls  were  written  usually  on  but  one  side  of 
the  material,  in  narrow,  cross-wise  columns.  A  vol- 
ume was  unrolled  and  re-rolled,  as  read;  was 
"closed"  by  rolling  it  up  around  the  umbilicus;  and 
was  "fastened"  by  tieing  it  with  a  string — was  often 
"sealed"  with  wax.  [In  the  book  of  Revelation 
(5:7-9)  there  is  portrayed  the  breaking  of  the 


62  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

"seals"  in  order  to  read  the  contents  of  the  book.] 
The  Hebrew  scriptures,  used  in  the  synagogue  wor- 
ship, were  "books"  of  this  form,  as  likewise  was 
the  "book"  referred  to  in  the  fortieth  psalm,  "In 
the  volume  of  the  'book'  it  is  written  of  me." 

It  is  not  determinable,  either  at  what  time  or  for 
what  reasons,  the  change  was  made  in  the  form  of 
the  manuscript  from  the  continuous  roll  to  the  book 
of  separate  leaves.  As  we  have  noted,  it  is  the  fact 
that  "necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention,"  the 
world  over  and  throughout  history.  It  is  also  the 
fact  that  the  improvements  of  inventions  have  ever 
been  the  order  of  development,  inasmuch  as  few 
inventions,  if  any,  in  any  age  or  realm,  have  ever 
come  into  existence  full-grown — are  other  than 
improvements,  and  sometimes  after  long  and  patient 
and  untiring  persistence,  upon  earlier  and  it  may  be 
crude  and  imperfect  originals.  Thus  the  improve- 
ments in  the  preparation  of  skins  and  papyrus,  mak- 
ing it  possible  to  use  both  sides  of  the  materials, 
doubtless  facilitated  the  transition  to  the  book  of 
leaves  and  pages.  This  change  was  gradual  and 
was  furthered  or  even  occasioned  it  may  be  by  utili- 
tarian demands,  or  was  prompted  by  economy  in 
the  use  of  book-making  materials  which  were  con- 
stantly enhancing  in  value.  Professor  Dobschiitz 
has  this  to  say  concerning  the  change  from  the 
papyrus  roll  to  the  parchment  book:  "The  use  of 
this  latter  form  seems  to  originate  in  the  law  schools; 
the  codex,  or  parchment  book,  is  at  first  the  desig- 


Parchment  and  Vellum  63 

nation  of  a  Roman  law-book.  But  at  an  early  date 
the  Christian  Church  adopted  this  form  as  the  more 
convenient  one  and  gave  it  its  circulation."  2  The 
fact  that  parchment  and  vellum  increased  in  cost 
and  became  less  and  less  available  as  writing  ma- 
terial led  to  the  custom,  during  periods  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  of  transcribing  one  work  over  another, 
and  after  the  earlier  had  been  obliterated.  This 
"composite"  writing  was  a  "palimpsest,"  called, 
technically,  a  codex  rescriptus,  and  many  times  ob- 
scured or  destroyed  an  ancient  and  valuable  pro- 
duction. Some  of  these  "palimpsests,"  though  frag- 
ments of  ancient  literature,  both  sacred  and  classic, 
are  valuable  and  have  been  "recovered"  or  restored 
by  the  use  of  chemical  re-agents  coupled  with  the 
all  but  infinite  patience  of  the  decipherers.  A  com- 
mentary of  the  Psalms  by  Augustine,  written  over 
Cicero's  "De  Republica,"  and  a  treatise  of  little 
value  by  a  Syrian  monk,  Ephraem,  superimposing  a 
valuable  fifth  century  manuscript  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, are  examples  of  palimpsests  in  classic  and 
Biblical  literature.  Some  of  the  writings  of  Livy 
and  certain  books  of  Pliny  the  Younger  have  been 
recovered  from  superimposed  writings  of  little  or  no 
historical  value.  Two  facts  concerning  the  change 
in  the  form  of  manuscript  books  are  demonstrable : 
( i )  That  the  first  books  were  "rolls"  or  "volumes" ; 
and  (2)  that,  early  in  the  Christian  Era,  books  of 
"leaves"  had  come  into  relatively  common  use. 

*The  Influence  of  the  Bible,  Etc.,  p.  29. 


64  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

It  is  not  an  insignificant  fact  that  the  earliest 
manuscripts  in  the  form  of  books  with  leaves  show 
the  largest  number  of  columns  to  a  page — approxi- 
mating thus  more  nearly  the  continuous  columns  of 
the  earlier  "roll"  book.  In  other  words,  the  earliest 
and  best  known  of  the  Greek  manuscripts  of  the 
Bible — the  manuscripts  which  are  most  relied  upon 
by  the  scholars  for  all  critical,  scriptural  study— 
the  codices  known,  respectively,  as  the  "  x ,"  or  the 
Sinaitic,  treasured  at  Petrograd;  the  "B,"  or  the 
Vatican,  kept  at  Rome;  the  "A,"  or  the  Alexandrian, 
deposited  in  the  Manuscript  Room  of  the  British 
Museum;  and  the  "C,"  or  the  Ephraem,  the  famous 
''palimpsest"  preserved  in  the  National  Library  at 
Paris  (all  of  them  written  in  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries)  are  "books"  of  leaves — the  one  most 
similar  to  the  ancient  "roll"  book  in  form  and 
arrangement  of  the  pages  being,  presumably,  the 
oldest. 

It  has  relation  to  our  discussion  and  is  of  illustra- 
tive interest  and  value  while  considering  ancient 
literature  to  note,  in  this  connection,  some  char- 
acteristics of  these  preeminent  manuscripts  of  the 
Bible  to  which  we  have  just  alluded.  The  Sinaitic 
Manuscript — one  of  the  most  valuable  copies  of  the 
scriptures  in  the  Greek  tongue — was  unearthed  by 
Professor  Tischendorf  in  the  convent  of  St.  Cath- 
arine, Mt.  Sinai,  in  1859,  and  dates,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  critics,  from  the  middle  of  the  fourth 
century  A.  D.  This  Manuscript  is  transcribed  on 


Parchment  and  Vellum  65 

346^  leaves  of  vellum,  each  leaf  being  131/2  inches 
in  width  and  14^  inches  in  height  and  contains  four 
columns  of  48  lines  each  to  a  page,  or  eight  columns 
to  the  open  book.  The  Vatican  Manuscript,  written 
at  about  the  same  time,  has  three  columns  to  a  page, 
or  six  columns  to  the  open  book.  The  Alexandrian 
Manuscript,  written  in  the  fifth  century,  has  two 
columns  to  a  page.  The  Ephraem  Manuscript,  also 
written  in  the  fifth  century,  has  but  a  single  column 
to  a  page.  The  Sinaitic  Manuscript,  because  of  its 
distinction  in  having  the  largest  number  of  columns 
to  a  page,  has  been  given,  by  some  of  the  Biblical 
scholars,  the  first  rank  among  the  oldest  extant 
copies  of  the  Christian  scriptures.  The  basis  for 
this  estimate  is,  largely,  its  nearer  approach  to  the 
ancient  rolls  with  their  cross-wise  columns. 


IX 

PAPYRUS 

THE  commonest  material  upon  which  to  write 
the  records  of  history  and  all  literature  for 
some  centuries,  both  before  and  after  the  time  of 
Christ,  was  that  manufactured  from  the  papyrus 
plant,  or  reed,  which  grew  in  great  abundance  in  the 
stagnant  pools  occasioned  by  the  annual  overflow 
of  the  Nile; — it  grew  also  in  the  marshes  of  the  Eu- 
phrates, and  elsewhere,  though  for  centuries  the  only 
source  of  the  papyrus  for  literature  was  in  Egypt. 
Papyrus  as  a  material  upon  which  to  write  was 
both  cheaper  and  more  plentiful  than  parchment, 
and  for  these  reasons  it  was  more  commonly  utilized 
than  any  other  prior  to  the  invention  of  paper.  The 
papyrus,  while  more  plentiful  and  less  expensive 
than  parchment,  was  not  inexpensive  as  a  finished 
commodity;  indeed,  it  was  so  expensive  that  the 
poor  were  often  denied  this  material  for  writing. 
It  is  recorded  that,  in  the  list  of  expenses  relating 
to  the  rebuilding  of  the  Erechtheum  at  Athens 
(B.  C.  407),  two  sheets  of  papyri  cost  at  the  rate 
of  a  drachma  and  two  obols  each,  or  a  little  over  a 
shilling  of  our  money.1  The  author  of  an  old  work 

1  Greek  Papyri,  Prof.  Geo.  Milligan,  D.D.,  p.  xxiii. 

66 


Papyrus  67 

gives  a  quaint  description  of  the  plant  and  of  its 
preparation  for  use:  "It  runs  up  in  a  triangular 
stalk  to  the  height  of  about  fifteen  feet  and  is  usually 
about  a  foot  and  a  half  in  circumference,  sometimes 
more.  When  the  outer  skin  is  taken  off  there  are 
several  films,  or  inner  skins,  one  within  another  and 
naturally  partakable  from  each  other.  These,  when 
separated  from  the  stalk  and  flaked,  made  the  paper 
which  the  ancients  used,  and  which,  from  the  name 
of  the  tree,  they  called  Papyrus." 

Concerning  the  process  of  its  preparation,  as  we 
learn  from  various  sources:  The  inner  skins  or 
fibrous  rinds  of  the  plant  were  peeled  off,  somewhat 
as  the  outer  bark  of  a  birch  tree  may  be  detached, 
and  then  these  strips  of  the  papyrus  were  placed  one 
upon  another  so  that  the  "grain,"  or  fiber,  of  each 
strip  would  extend  crosswise  to  the  other — some- 
times three  layers,  even,  were  superimposed  one 
upon  another — after  the  manner  of  the  modern  two 
or  three-ply  wood  veneering.  The  purpose  of  this 
process  was  to  give  greater  strength  and  durability 
to  the  writing  material  made  therefrom.  The  glu- 
tinous juice  in  these  strips,  (or,  perhaps  they  were 
moistened  by  the  waters  of  the  Nile)  on  being  sub- 
jected to  pressure  were  glued  together  in  one  intact 
sheet.  These  larger  sheets  were  afterwards 
smoothed  and  polished,  bleached  in  the  sun,  and 
then  cut  up  into  strips  to  the  dimensions  of  eight, 
twelve,  or  even  fifteen  inches  in  width  as  desired, 

2Prideau's  Connections,  Vol.  2,  p.  510. 


68  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

for   the   rolls,   or,   as   at  a  later  time,   into   short, 
rectangular  sections  for  the  leaves  of  books. 

The  writing  on  these  rolls,  as  on  those  made  of 
parchment,  was  in  columns,  crosswise  at  convenient 
intervals,  with  a  margin  at  the  top  and  the  bottom 
of  the  columns.  The  length  of  the  column  lines  of 
writing  was  governed  by  the  writer's  taste  or  in- 
clination, or  the  character  of  the  composition — if 
poetical,  by  the  metre.  The  size  of  the  rolls,  how- 
ever, was  determined  by  the  amount  of  writing  to 
be  recorded — one  of  the  longer  books  of  the  New 
Testament;  c.  g.,  would  constitute  an  ordinary  roll, 
while  it  would  require  thirty  or  forty  or  even  more 
rolls  on  which  to  transcribe  the  entire  Bible.  Ac- 
cording to  BIRT,  the  average  length  of  the  papyrus 
roll  slightly  exceeded  forty  feet,  but  instances  are 
cited  of  rolls  reaching  the  length  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet.  This  writer  is  authority  for  the  state- 
ment that  a  Homeric  papyrus  roll  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  in  length  was  burned  in  Byzantium  in 
the  fifth  century.  Mr.  Putnam  observes  in  connec- 
tion with  the  size  of  the  papyrus  rolls:  "It  is  pos- 
sible the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse  may  have  had 
one  of  these  enormous  scrolls  in  his  vision  when  he 
beheld  the  record  of  the  sins  of  Babylon  reaching 
to  the  heavens."  3  The  larger  papyrus  books  were 
thus,  literally,  "weighty  tomes,"  and,  because  they 
were  too  heavy  and  cumbrous  to  hold  in  the  hand, 
were  read  from  a  table  or  desk.  The  cumbrous 

'Authors  and  Their  Public,  p.  142. 


Papyrus  69 

character  of  these  large  volumes  was  the  basis  for 
the  dictum  of  the  Alexandrian  grammarian,  "A  big 
book  is  a  big  nuisance." 

At  a  later  period,  not  determinable,  the  papyrus 
writing  material  was  no  longer  made  up  into  roll 
form  but  was  cut  into  rectangular  sheets  of  various 
dimensions,  according  to  the  taste  of  the  writer  or 
the  special  need,  and  was  then  bound  together  some- 
what as  a  modern  book.  Sometimes,  when  greater 
durability  was  sought,  the  writer  or  copyist  would 
insert  a  leaf  of  parchment  at  every  five  or  six  leaves 
of  the  papyrus.  This  added  greatly  to  the  durability 
of  the  book.  There  are  examples  of  books  thus 
"reinforced"  which  have  resisted  the  destructive  in- 
fluences of  time  fcnd  use  for  twelve  centuries  to- 
gether. The  fragile  and  extremely  perishable  char- 
acter of  the  papyrus  makes  it  most  remarkable  that 
any  writing  thereon  should  have  survived  for  cen- 
turies; indeed,  according  to  Pliny,  a  volume  two 
centuries  old  was  considered  so  exceptional  as  to  be 
almost  incredible.  It  was  the  perishable  character 
of  this  material  that  made  the  frequent  renewal  of 
manuscripts  handled  a  constant  necessity,  and  hence 
the  occupation  of  the  copyists  and  the  department 
of  reproduction  in  the  libraries  were  logical.  The 
fragile  character  of  the  papyrus  led,  also,  to  the  fre- 
quent use  of  a  wooden  case,  called  a  capsa,  to  protect 
and  preserve  the  roll.  It  was  under  very  exceptional 
conditions  only,  as  in  mummy-cases  of  Egyptian 
tombs  where  they  escaped  the  touch  of  man  and, 


70  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

almost,  the  touch  of  time  as  well,  and,  as  hermeti- 
cally sealed  under  lava  beds  at  Pompeii  and  Hercu- 
laneum,  that  the  fragile  papyrus  was  sometimes 
preserved  for  centuries. 

The  earliest  known  papyrus  manuscripts  date 
from  the  time  of  the  twelfth  dynasty  of  Egypt,  or 
from  a  period  of  more  than  two  thousand  years 
before  the  Christian  Era  began.  These  oldest 
existing  papyrus  documents  yet  discovered  are  writ- 
ten in  Egyptian — in  three  characters — in  hiero- 
glyphics, the  most  ancient  or  the  picture-writing  of 
the  earliest  times  (translatable  by  the  decipherment 
of  the  Rosetta  Stone),  in  the  hieratic,  or  the  writ- 
ing of  the  priests  of  Egypt  from  the  period  of  the 
fourth  or  fifth  dynasty  (3124-2744  B.  C.,  Lepsius) 
on  to  the  third  or  fourth  century  of  the  Christian 
Era,  and  in  the  demotic,  or  the  later  and  popular 
form  of  the  priestly  writing.  In  general,  however, 
the  papyrus  period  of  the  Egyptian  literature  ex- 
tended from  the  fourth  century  B.  C.  to  the  fourth 
century  A.  D. 

The  extensive  use  of  the  papyrus  as  writing  ma- 
terial is  evidenced  in  the  fact  that  an  important 
commerce  therein  extended  over  a  large  part  of  the 
civilized  world  as  early  as  the  third  century  B.  C., 
and  continued  to  be  a  source  of  wealth  to  the  Egyp- 
tians for  centuries  after  the  Christian  Era  had 
begun.  In  fact  the  use  of  papyrus  continued,  al- 
though interrupted  greatly  by  the  Saracen  conquest 
and  the  embargo  laid  upon  its  importation  into 


Papyrus  7 1 

Pergamum  by  the  Ptolemaic  rulers  of  Egypt,  until  it 
was  superseded  by  the  manufactured  paper  as  it 
progressively  came  into  use.  (Isaac  Taylor.) 


PAPER  AND  ITS  MANUFACTURE 

IT  is  the  conclusion  now  accepted  generally  that 
the  Chinese  made  and  used  paper  for  writing 
purposes  from  a  remote  period  of  the  past — from 
before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era.  "The 
Chinese  are  credited  with  the  discovery  of  the  art  of 
paper-making  by  the  use  of  fibers  reduced  in  water  to 
a  pulp.  Their  raw  materials  were  the  inner  bark  of 
the  mulberry  tree,  bamboo,  rice  straw,  rags,  etc."  l 
Paper  was  distinguished  from  the  papyrus  in  that 
the  substances  from  which  it  was  made  were  not  used 
in  their  natural  state,  as  the  papyrus  was,  but  were 
manufactured  from  the  raw  material  which  was  first 
reduced  to  a  pulp,  then  disposed  in  sheets,  and  sub- 
sequently finished  for  use.  In  lapse  of  time  many 
different  kinds  of  substances  were  employed  as  raw 
material  or  the  basis  of  the  finished  product.  At 
the  Paris  Exhibition  in  1889,  a  paper-maker  showed 
more  than  sixty  webs,  or  rolls,  of  paper,  each  made 
from  a  different  vegetable  fibre:  and  sample-books 
have  been  published  which  were  composed  of  several 
hundred  leaves,  all  of  different  fibre.2 

1Applcton's  New  Practical  Encyclopedia. 
*  Chambers'  Encyclopedia. 

72 


Paper  and  Its  Manufacture  73 

It  is  somewhat  the  "irony  of  fate"  that  no  account 
of  the  origin  of  paper  has  been  reliably  recorded. 
Much  of  the  reputed  history  of  the  art,  or  the  in- 
vention, is  only  conjectural.  The  fact  is  that,  how- 
ever remote  the  time  and  place  of  its  beginning, 
paper  first  became  available  to  the  world  of  letters 
in  the  eighth  century.  The  Arabs,  having  acquired 
the  art  of  making  it  from  China  (through  Chinese 
prisoners,  it  is  said)  brought  its  manufacture  into 
Arabia  in  the  eighth  century  and,  later,  carried  it 
into  Europe  by  way  of  northern  Africa.  The  com- 
paratively large  number  of  Arab  manuscripts,  pre- 
served from  the  ninth  century,  is  evidence  of  the 
extent  to  which  paper  was  adopted  and  used  for 
their  literary,  scientific,  and  religious  records. 

The  Moors  by  their  conquest  of  Spain  in  the 
eighth  century  brought  their  civilization  and  its 
benefits  into  western  Europe  and,  at  a  later  time — 
at  about  the  twelfth  century — introduced  the  manu- 
facture of  paper  therein.  The  industry  spread, 
later,  from  Spain  into  Italy  and  Sicily,  and  came 
eventually  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians,  under 
whose  less  skillful  manipulations  it  suffered  deteri- 
oration in  quality.  At  a  still  later  date,  its  manu- 
facture extended  into  southern  and  western  Ger- 
many and  into  the  Netherlands,  England,  and 
France. 

Cotton  paper  was  first  manufactured  from  the 
natural  product;  but  later,  as  the  industry  was  ex- 
tended to  regions  where  cotton  was  not  grown  and 


74  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

into  which  it  was  not  imported,  other  substances 
were  used  instead  of  the  raw  cotton.  "In  Spain," 
it  is  said,  uflax  was  the  first  material  used,  then 
cotton."  The  practice  of  mixing  rags — first  woolen, 
then  cotton,  and  later  linen — gradually  came  into 
use.  Near  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century  ( 1085) 
is  designated  as  the  date  when  rags  were  first  used 
for  paper  in  Spain;  linen  paper  appeared  in  iioo. 
"From  the  time  rags  began  to  be  used  in  Europe 
they  rapidly  displaced  other  materials  on  account  of 
the  double  use  of  the  fibre  composing  them  (used 
first  for  clothing  or  domestic  purposes).  Rags  held 
sway  in  the  paper  industry  for  many  centuries,  but 
not  entirely  to  the  exclusion  of  numerous  other 
materials."  3 

Linen  paper,  though  known  much  earlier,  came 
into  general  use  in  the  fourteenth  century.  It  was 
manufactured  not  only  in  response  to  the  demand 
for  improvement  which  characterizes  all  inventions 
but  because  linen  was  then  less  expensive  than  cotton. 
The  earliest  existing  document  on  paper  is  a  deed 
of  King  Roger  of  Sicily,  1102  A.  D.  There  are 
other  documentary  records  of  Sicilian  kings  during 
the  twelfth  century.  uThe  manufacture  of  paper 
from  linen  rags,"  says  Thalheimer,  "was  a  humble 
but  essential  antecedent  to  the  art  of  printing,  for 
the  costliness  of  parchment  or  vellum  was  as  effec- 
tual a  barrier  to  the  multiplication  of  books  as  the 
labor  of  transcribing  them."  Even  before  the 

3  The  Americana. 


Paper  and  Its  Manufacture  75 

Christian  Era,  the  cost  of  books  was  largely  the 
cost  of  the  material — papyrus — upon  which  they 
were  mostly  written.  Mr.  Putnam  suggests  that 
"if  printing  had  come  into  Europe  in  the  first  cen- 
tury, the  world  might  to-day  be  buried  under  the 
accumulated  mass  of  its  literature" — no,  not  unless 
the  invention  of  paper  had  been  coterminous  or  had 
preceded. 

All  other  and  earlier  materials  for  the  embodi- 
ment and  preservation  of  literature  were  eventually 
superseded  by  the  manufacture  of  paper.  Concern- 
ing the  displacement  of  other  materials,  there  is 
good  authority  for  the  claim  that  "in  the  second 
half  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  use  of  paper  for 
all  literary  purposes  had  become  well  established  in 
all  western  Europe ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  fifteenth 
century  it  had  gradually  superseded  vellum.  In 
manuscripts  of  this  latter  period  it  is  not  unusual  to 
find  a  mixture  of  vellum  and  paper,  a  vellum  sheet 
forming  the  outer  and  inner  leaves  of  a  quire  while 
the  rest  are  of  paper.'*  4 

And  thus  the  invention  of  paper  and  the  succes- 
sive improvements  in  its  quality  consequent  upon  the 
improved  methods  of  its  making,  prepared  the  way 
for  the  printing-press — an  invention  the  importance 
of  which  is  beyond  estimate  and  the  relation  of 
which  to  literature  baffles  comparison.  But  the 
manufacture  of  paper,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
it  has  shared  in  many  and  important  improvements, 

*  Encyclopedia  Britannica  (Eleventh  Edition). 


76  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

continued  to  be  made  laboriously  by  hand  up  to  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  manufacture  of  paper  has  now  reached  a 
stage,  it  would  almost  seem,  of  unimprovable  ex- 
cellence. In  what  is  known  as  the  "India"  paper 
there  is  combined,  to  a  superlative  degree,  the  paper- 
maker's  science  with  the  artist's  skill.  It  is  called 
''India"  paper  "owing  to  the  prevailing  tendency  to 
describe  as  'Indian'  everything  coming  from  the  Far 
East,"  whence  it  was  brought  to  England  as  early 
as  1841.  This  paper  is  not  only  thin  and  light  but 
also  tough  and  strong  and  has  an  opacity  which 
makes  it  ideal  for  the  printing  of  books  (especially 
the  Bible)  where  it  is  desirable  to  reduce  the  weight 
and  bulk  without  diminishing  the  size  of  type  or 
sacrificing  beauty  of  typography  and  serviceability. 
It  combines  maximum  durability  and  capacity  with 
minimum  dimensions  and  weight.  Two  facts  will 
illustrate  the  foregoing  observation:  (i)  There  is 
an  edition  of  the  Bible,  containing  the  Authorized 
Version  complete  in  every  particular,  reduced  within 
the  dimensions  of  one  and  a-quarter,  seven-eighths, 
and  one-half  an  inch — or  a  little  less  than  fifty-five 
one-hundredths  of  one  cubic  inch.  It  is  hardly  nec- 
essary to  say  that  it  can  be  read  only  by  the  aid  of  a 
magnifying  lens.  (2)  And  in  an  advertising  book- 
let setting  forth  the  excellencies  of  an  edition  of  the 
Encyclopedia  Britannica  there  is  given  a  remarkable 
test  of  the  capacity  of  the  India  paper  to  endure 
severe  usage.  A  sheet  from  a  volume  was  folded 


Paper  and  Its  Manufacture  77 

in  strips  and  tied  in  knots,  drawn  through  a  lady's 
finger  ring,  crumpled  into  a  tight  ball,  then  opened 
out  and  ironed  to  its  original  state  of  finish. 

The  tests  to  which  the  "India"  paper  was  sub- 
jected at  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1900  also  show  its 
most  remarkable  capacity.  In  those  tests  a  volume 
of  1,500  pages  was  suspended  for  several  months 
by  a  single  leaf  as  thin  as  tissue  and,  at  the  close  of 
the  exhibition,  it  was  found  that  the  leaf  had  not 
started,  the  paper  had  not  stretched,  and  the  volume 
closed  as  well  as  ever.  A  strip  of  this  paper,  three 
inches  wide,  sustained  a  weight  of  twenty-eight 
pounds  before  yielding.  This  indicates  its  extreme 
tensile  capacity.  By  the  use  of  this  paper  a  book  of 
a  thousand  pages  may  be  brought  within  the  limits 
of  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  thickness — the  paper 
being  of  such  degree  of  opaqueness  as  to  make  possi- 
ble a  beautiful  typography  on  both  sides  of  the  sheet 
and  of  such  strength  and  durability  as  to  sustain 
long  continued  use.  The  following  is  a  publisher's 
advertisement  of  a  teacher's  Bible:  "Printed  on 
genuine  India  paper,  which  measures  only  five- 
eighths  of  an  inch  to  1,000  sheets,  making  a  beauti- 
ful, light-weight,  convenient  book."  The  fine  edi- 
tions of  the  Bible  (for  use  and  not  as  a  curiosity  of 
the  printer's  art)  and  the  great  Encyclopedia  Bri- 
tannica,  printed  on  India  paper  are  conspicuous 
examples  and  embody  both  the  paper  maker's  science 
and  the  printer's  art. 


XI 

OTHER  MATERIALS  OF  LITERATURE 

BESIDES  the  materials  already  mentioned,  other 
substances  were  utilized  upon  which  to  impress 
or  embody  literature  or  any  historical  data.  Thus, 
sections  of  the  bamboo;  the  leaves  and  bark  of  trees 
and  plants  as  the  linden,  birch,  and  the  palm;  tab- 
lets of  wood,  ivory,  gold,  bronze,  tin,  lead,  and  wax; 
sheets  of  silk  and  linen;  sun-dried  and  fire-burnt 
bricks;  tablets  and  cylinders  of  clay;  and  slabs  and 
stelai  of  stone,  were  each  and  all  used  in  variable 
proportions,  according  to  taste  or  necessitous  con- 
ditions. Of  the  materials  used  in  picture  writing  of 
the  ancient  Aztecs  of  Mexico,  Prescott  says :  "The 
manuscripts  were  made  of  different  materials,  cotton 
cloth  or  skins  nicely  prepared;  a  composition  of  silk 
and  gum;  but  for  the  most  part  a  kind  of  paper  from 
the  leaves  of  the  maguey."  1 

Some  of  these  materials  were  used  transiently  and 
in  small  areas;  others  of  them  were  widely  used  and 
for  a  long  period  of  time.  Mr.  G.  H.  Putnam  in- 
stances the  case  of  wax  tablets  which  were  known 
to  Homer  as  being  still  in  use  among  the  Romans 

1  Conquest  of  Mexico,  Vol.  i,  p.  102. 

78 


Other  Materials  of  Literature  79 

twelve  hundred  years  later.  In  Palestine  and 
Phoenicia  and,  indeed,  in  many  places  if  not  every- 
where, the  earliest  writing  was  on  stone,  of  which 
the  famous  Rosetta  and  the  Moabite  stones  and  the 
inscriptions  cut  on  temple  walls,  gates,  stone  cliffs, 
and  monuments,  as  in  Egypt,  Assyria,  Persia,  and 
Crete,  and  in  the  western  hemisphere  also,  are  ex- 
amples from  the  remote  past.  In  Assyria  and 
Babylonia  clay  was  all  but  universally  employed  as 
the  material  upon  which  to  write,  and  because  it  was 
everywhere  available.  Clay  was  the  material  at 
hand  and  was  used  for  vari-sized  tablets  and  for 
hollow  hexagonal  or  octagonal  cylinders. 

[In  this  connection  it  will  be  of  interest  to  note 
two  important  "finds"  of  the  cuneiform  writing 
which  have  recently  been  brought  to  light  in  Upper 
Egypt  and  in  Babylon,  respectively.  There  was  dis- 
covered in  1891-92,  by  Professor  Petrie,  at  Tel-el- 
Amarna,  above  the  city  of  Cairo  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  Nile,  a  body  of  tablets — over  three  hundred 
in  number — written  in  cuneiform  or  Babylonian 
characters.  The  scholars  were  astonished  at  finding 
this  collection  in  Egypt,  so  remote  from  the  home 
of  the  cuneiform  writing.  The  inscriptions  on  them 
increased  their  surprise,  for  these  tablets  were  writ- 
ten in  Jerusalem,  Tyre,  Gezer,  and  other  cities  of 
Palestine  and  Syria  and  sent  by  these  subject  peoples 
to  their  Egyptian  masters  and  rulers.  They  show, 
as  Professor  Sayce  holds,  that  writing  on  tablets 
was,  at  least  in  the  time  of  the  Eighteenth  Dynasty 


8o  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

of  Egypt  (1,000  B.  C),  the  normal  form  of  official 
correspondence  between  Egypt  and  her  foreign 
provinces.2  The  greater  part  of  these  tablets  were 
purchased  for  the  Berlin  Museum,  though  quite  a 
number  of  them  were  secured  for  the  British  Mu- 
seum. (Encyclopedia  Britannica,  Eleventh  Edition.) 
The  other  important  "find" — an  elaborate  monu- 
ment of  early  civilization  and  embodying,  perhaps, 
the  most  ancient  of  all  codes — was  that  discovered 
on  the  acropolis  of  ancient  Susa  in  Persia  during  the 
winter  of  1901-02  by  the  French  Expedition.  This 
discovery  consisted  of  three  fragments  of  black 
diorite  stone  and  constituted,  when  fitted  together,  a 
monument  nearly  eight  feet  in  height.  This  monu- 
ment embodies  a  bas-relief  of  King  Hammurabi  re- 
ceiving the  Laws  from  the  sun-god,  and  an  inscrip- 
tion of  about  four  thousand  lines  (the  longest  in- 
scription yet  discovered)  arranged  in  forty-four 
columns,  engraven  on  the  stele  in  cuneiform  char- 
acters as  were  the  Tel-el-Amarna  tablets.  It  is  be- 
lieved by  the  scholars  that  this  Code  was  set  up  in 
the  principal  cities  of  the  realm  and  was  designed  to 
be  read  and  observed  by  the  King's  subjects.  This 
Hammurabi  (identified  by  most  Assyriologists  as  the 
Amraphel  of  the  Old  Testament,  Genesis  14:1)  was 
the  sixth  king  of  the  First  Dynasty  of  Babylon  and 
reigned  for  fifty-five  years,  about  2250  B.  C.  He 
was  a  great  scholar  and  a  pious  and  god-fearing 
King  who  codified  existing  laws  and  had  them  widely 

1  Monument  Facts,  Etc.,  pp.  37-40. 


Other  Materials  of  Literature  81 

promulgated.3] 

Wood  was  used  in  some  countries  as  the  material 
upon  which  to  write  or  carve  records  and  laws.  The 
mummy-cases  were  both  written  upon  and  carved 
with  Egyptian  characters  and  the  laws  of  Solon  were 
inscribed  on  tablets  of  wood.  The  word  codex 
which  has  come  to  have  different  significations 
meant,  originally,  the  trunk  of  a  tree  but  came  to  be 
the  designation  for  a  wooden  tablet  coated  with 
wax  for  writing  purposes.  Pliny  is  authority  for  the 
statement  that  the  bark  of  trees  was  used  for  writing 
upon  before  the  papyrus  was  adopted  for  this  pur- 
pose. It  is  held  that  in  China  writing  was  very 
early  made  permanent  on  sections  of  the  bamboo, 
being  burned  therein  by  a  heated  metal  stylus  some- 
what after  the  fashion  of  the  modern  pyrography; 
this  material  was  displaced,  however,  in  the  third 
century  B.  C.  by  silk  or  cloth,  and  these,  in  turn, 
were  superseded  by  a  kind  of  paper  made  from  the 
inner  bark  of  the  mulberry  tree,  bamboo  fibre,  and 
other  substances  which  came  into  extensive  use 
during  the  Han  Dynasty  (206  B.  €.-25  A.  D.)  and, 
under  the  incentive  of  which,  as  we  are  told,  an  ex- 
tensive imperial  library  of  the  reigning  house  was 
collected.  And,  to  the  present  day,  palm  leaves  are 
used  for  writing  material  in  parts  of  India. 

Besides  the  simpler  arrangements  of  the  ma- 
terials, as  in  the  roll,  tablet,  or  leaf,  there  were 
arrangements  of  the  material  more  resembling  the 

'The  Code  of  Hammurabi,  R.  F.  Harper,  Ph.D. 


82  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

book  form  of  to-day,  as  in  the  diptych  and  the 
triptych.  The  diptych  was  made  of  two  tablets  of 
wood  or  of  other  material  and  resembled  our 
double  slates,  having  the  tablets  for  the  writing 
sunken  below  the  protecting  edges.  These  were 
hinged  together  and  covered  on  their  protected  sides 
with  a  coating  of  wax.  On  this  wax  surface  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  wrote  with  a  stylus.  The  writ- 
ing could  easily  be  obliterated  by  simply  melting  the 
wax,  when  it  became  a  prepared  plate  for  another 
inscription.  The  triptych  and  the  polyptych,  as  the 
respective  words  suggest,  consisted  of  three  or  four 
or  more  leaves  hinged  together  and  made  available 
for  literary  or  other  inscriptions,  after  the  manner 
of  the  diptych. 


XII 

INKS 

ANY  reference  to  the  literary  productions  of  the 
past  and  to  the  materials  preserving  and  per- 
petuating written  records,  including  the  Bible  and 
sacred  history,  would  be  deficient  were  the  qualities 
of  the  early  inks  disregarded.  The  very  ink  in 
which  the  ancient  literature,  sacred  and  classic,  was 
embodied  had  an  importance  scarcely,  if  any,  less 
than  the  materials  upon  which  the  writing  was  im- 
pressed or  recorded.  The  task  of  transcribing  a 
book,  e.  g.t  the  Gallic  Wars,  the  Epic  of  Virgil, 
or  the  Bible,  was  an  undertaking  of  so  great  magni- 
tude that  the  conservation  of  energy,  if  nothing  else, 
taught  the  importance  of  securing  and  using  an  ink 
that  had  "staying"  qualities.  No  sensible  person, 
no  matter  when  or  where  he  might  live,  would  be 
apt  to  spend  the  time  required  to  copy  the  Bible  in 
its  entirety  (a  task  necessitating  the  labor  of  a  skill- 
ful calligraphist  for  nearly  three  years)  when  all 
his  work  would  soon  be  wasted  by  reason  of  an 
impermanent  ink. 

The  makers  of  the  inks  used  in  the  early  ages  had 
a  skill  and  knowledge  in  the  mixing  of  pigments  or 
in  compounding  the  ingredients  of  their  inks  undis- 

83 


84  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

covered,  as  yet,  and  unequaled  in  modern  times. 
The  superiority  of  the  inks  known  to  the  ancients 
has  long  been  the  object  of  surprise  and  admiration. 
The  inscriptions  on  mummy  cases,  made  at  a  time 
long  antedating  the  Christian  Era,  and  the  writing 
on  manuscripts  made  in  the  early  centuries  of  Chris- 
tian history,  in  addition  to  the  beauty  of  the  form 
and  finish  of  the  writing,  have  a  freshness  of  appear- 
ance as  though  they  were  only  of  years'  instead  of 
centuries'  duration.  uThe  survival  of  papyrus  rolls 
containing  the  text  of  the  Egyptian  ritual  known  as 
'The  Book  of  the  Dead,'  dating  back  fifteen  cen- 
turies B.  C.,  and  accompanied  with  numerous  scenes 
painted  in  brilliant  colors,  proves  how  ancient  was 
this  very  natural  method  of  elucidating  a  written 
text  by  means  of  pictures."  *  And  among  the  ancient 
archaelogical  treasures  recently  discovered  in  Crete 
are  stucco  designs,  the  colors  of  which  are  almost  as 
brilliant  as  when  laid  on,  over  three  thousand  years 
ago. 

The  composition  of  the  earliest  inks  has  not  yet 
been  obtained  and,  likely,  is  unascertainable.  The 
first  inks  are  supposed  to  have  been  made  from 
sepia — the  secretion  of  the  cuttle  fish — or  was  com- 
posed of  a  mixture  of  soot  and  gum.  Later,  inks 
were  prepared  from  the  apples  of  the  gall-oak,  and 
from  other  materials — vegetable  and  mineral. 

Inks  of  various  colors  and  kinds — red,  purple, 
green,  and  blue,  and,  occasionally,  of  gold  and  silver 

'Encyclopedia  Britannica   (Eleventh  Edition). 


Inks  85 

— were  often  employed.  The  different  colored  inks 
were  used,  respectively,  for  the  in-filling  of  char- 
acters and  letters  cut  in  stone  and  the  like;  for  the 
ornamentation  and  embellishment  of  mummy-cases 
and  manuscripts;  for  titles  and  initial  letters  (espe- 
cially in  the  later  centuries)  ;  for  the  purpose  of  em- 
phasis by  contrast  with  other  inks;  for  marginal 
notes  by  a  later  hand  (guarding  thus  against  acci- 
dental alterations  or  interpolations  of  the  original 
writing)  ;  and  to  agree  with  the  esthetic  taste  of  the 
copyist  or  his  own  notion  of  the  value  or  the  impor- 
tance of  the  production,  as  is  seen  in  some  beautiful 
copies  of  the  Bible  or  portions  thereof  and  in  other 
literary  productions  of  the  manuscript  age.  (See 
pages  51-54.)  The  ink  used  on  the  early  papyrus 
such  as  uThe  Book  of  the  Dead/'  was  usually  of  a 
deep,  glossy  black  color  though  occasionally  other 
colors  are  also  found. 

Concerning  the  picture-writing  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  Mr.  Wallace  Budge  of  the  British  Mu- 
seum says,  "Where  it  was  possible  the  scribe  repre- 
sented an  object  in  its  natural  colour;  he  made  the 
moon  yellow,  the  sun  red,  trees,  plants  and  all  vege- 
tables, green;  but  objects  requiring  out  of  the  way 
colours  were  not  so  well  done,  owing  to  the  com- 
paratively limited  supply  of  colours  at  the  disposal 
of  the  scribe."  2  In  China,  during  the  third  century 
B.  C.,  a  dark  varnish  was  employed  to  paint  on  silk 
and  bamboo,  a  brush  being  used  in  its  application. 

'The  Dwellers  on  the  Nile,  p.  41. 


86  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

India  ink  came  into  use  in  China  in  the  seventh 
century  A.  D.  The  beautiful  black  ink,  known  to 
the  ancients,  greatly  deteriorated  in  quality  in  the 
Byzantine  period,  which  may  have  occasioned  the 
restriction  of  the  red  ink  to  the  emperor's  exclusive 
use,  as  at  a  later  date  the  purple  became  the  royal 
color. 

Attempts  made  by  chemical  analysis  and  the  use  of 
reagents  to  discover  the  ingredients  of  the  inks  used 
by  the  ancients  have  not  yielded  very  definite  re- 
sults. Beyond  some  general  conclusions  as  to  the 
components  of  the  first  inks,  there  is  little  more 
than  conjecture,  and  it  now  seems  that  their  manu- 
facture must  be  classed  as  one  of  the  lost  arts. 


XIII 

IMPLEMENTS  OF  WRITING 

THE  implements  used  for  writing  necessarily 
varied  in  the  different  ages  and  diverse  civiliza- 
tions according  to  the  character  of  the  materials 
successively  used  and  the  nature  and  stage  of  the 
civilization.  When  inscriptions  were  made  in  stone 
of  any  sort — sand-stone,  marble,  granite,  basalt,  or 
other  stone — or  in  wood,  a  chisel  was  the  tool. 
When  the  material  used  was  lead,  ivory,  wax,  or 
plastic  clay, — bricks,  tablets  or  cylinders — a  stylus 
was  used.  The  stylus  was  made  of  bone,  ivory,  or 
metal,  according  to  the  requirements  or  tastes  in  the 
case.  When  the  writing  was  with  ink,  upon  leather, 
parchment,  papyrus,  paper,  and  kindred  substances, 
a  pen — of  silver  or  from  a  reed  or  quill — was  em- 
ployed as  in  modern  times.  Pens  of  bronze  have 
been  found  in  tombs.  Brushes,  too,  as  in  China, 
were  used  in  recording  literature.  The  "pcn-kmfc" 
for  fashioning  pens  from  reeds  or  quills ;  the  pumice 
stone,  for  erasures  and  smoothing  the  material  to 
be  written  upon;  the  ruler  and  compasses,  for  in- 
dicating the  lines  of  writing;  scissors,  sponge,  and 
ink-stand  (the  "writer's  ink  horn,"  Ezekiel  9:2,  3), 
sometimes  double  for  different  colored  inks ;  and  the 

87 


88  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

palette,  containing  small  hollows  for  the  various 
kinds  and  colors  of  inks  used,  were  all  parapherna- 
lia of  the  copyist's  profession. 


XIV 

THE  ART  AND  SCIENCE  OF  PALEOGRAPHY 

T^AL^EOGRAPHY  is  defined  as  "that  depart- 
^/rnent  of  historical  science  which  treats  of  an- 
cient writing."  "In  the  study  of  handwriting/'  it 
has  been  said,  "it  is  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  great 
and  enduring  influence  which  the  character  of  the 
material  employed  for  receiving  script  has  had  upon 
the  formation  of  the  letters."  Whether  the  ma- 
terial was  clay,  waxen  surface,  or  papyrus,  largely 
determined  the  formation  of  the  letters.  In  the 
broad  sense  in  which  it  is  used  in  our  discussion  the 
term  applies,  not  only  to  all  written  records  whether 
upon  rolls  or  codices  and  without  regard  to  the  ma- 
terial, or  their  form  and  content,  but  also  includes 
epigraphy  which  has  to  do  with  inscriptions  on 
monuments  or  seals,  and  numismatics  which,  spe- 
cifically, designates  the  inscriptions  of  coins. 

Palaeography  is  both  an  art  and  a  science.  Mod- 
ern penmanship,  while  commonly  regarded  as  more 
of  an  art  than  a  science,  is,  in  reality,  less  an  art  than 
a  science.  Indeed,  in  a  broad  and  a  not  unwar- 
ranted generalization,  present-day  handwriting  is 
seldom  either  an  art  or  a  science,  but  rather  a  desul- 
tory and  questionable  though  necessary  accomplish- 

89 


9O  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

ment.  The  invention  of  the  typewriter  has  not 
added,  in  general,  to  the  achievements  of  penman- 
ship. Penmanship  is  one  of  the  almost  universally 
neglected  sciences  of  modern  times.  Unquestion- 
ably, if  there  were  more  of  the  "science"  of  pen- 
manship taught  and  practiced,  and  more  time  and 
attention  devoted  to  its  study  and  its  cultivation,  we 
would  have  more  of  the  art  of  handwriting  to  de- 
light our  esthetic  sensibilities. 

The  science  of  palaeography,  being  related  fun- 
damentally to  language,  links  us  with  prehistoric 
times.  Writing  is  crystallized  speech  in  visible  rec- 
ord, as  the  phonographic  "record"  is  speech  in  au- 
dible perpetuity.  (The  author  once  had  the  great 
privilege  of  hearing  the  voice  of  Mr.  Gladstone  in 
a  thrilling  address  before  the  House  of  Lords; — it 
was  a  phonographic  "record.")  Speech  is  the  most 
distinguishing  of  all  man's  characteristics; — long 
held  to  be  such.  Mr.  Huxley  once  likened  human 
speech  to  the  "Alps  or  Andes — high  over  everything 
else  in  animal  life."  Intelligent  speech  is  the  broad- 
est line  of  cleavage  to  a  tenable  evolutionary  hy- 
pothesis of  man's  origin  and  development.  The  ca- 
pacity of  speech  at  once  and  forever  differentiates 
man  from,  and  elevates  him  to,  a  plane  above  all 
other  of  the  manifold  creations  of  God.  While 
speech  must  be  recognized  as  the  most  distinguish- 
ing faculty  of  man,  writing  may  be  considered  the 
noblest  achievement  of  man.  Handwriting  may 
also  be  regarded  the  vehicle  of  expressing  and 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography          9 1 

the  mode  of  treasuring  and  communicating  to  dis- 
tant times  and  places  the  conceptions  of  the  mind 
by  means  of  symbols — symbols  representing  ob- 
jects or  sounds  and  thus  ideas  in  all  their  wide 
applications. 

Concerning  the  genesis  and  the  development  of 
handwriting  (and  handwriting  is  a  development — a 
development  from  very  rudimentary  beginnings) 
Professor  Edward  Clodd,  F.R.A.S.,  says:  'The 
use  of  writing  is  to  put  something  before  the  eye 
in  such  a  way  that  its  meaning  may  be  known  at  a 
glance,  and  the  earliest  way  of  doing  this  was  by  a 
picture.  Picture-writing  was  thus  used  for  many 
ages,  and  is  still  found  among  savage  races  in  all 
parts  of  the  globe.  On  rocks,  stone,  slabs,  trees, 
and  tombs,  pictures  were  employed  to  record  an 
event  or  tell  some  message.  In  course  of  time,  in- 
stead of  this  tedious  mode,  men  learned  to  write 
signs  for  certain  words  or  sounds.  Then  the  next 
step  was  to  separate  the  words  into  letters;  and  so 
arose  alphabets.  The  shape  of  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet  is  thought  by  some  to  bear  traces  of  the 
early  picture  writing." 1  The  late  Wm.  Frost 
Bishop,  D.D.,  affirms  with  more  of  positiveness : 
"Every  letter  was  at  first  a  picture  and  perhaps  it  is 
but  a  return  to  first  principles  when  the  children  are 
taught  to  say,  'O  was  an  Orange,  S  was  a  Swan,  B 
was  a  Butterfly';  or  when  the  alphabet  invokes  the 
aid  of  both  pictures  and  poetry, 

"Childhood  of  the  World,  p.  13. 


92  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

'A  was  an  Archer,  who  shot  at  a  frog; 
B  was  a  Butcher,  who  had  a  great  dog.'  ' 

And  the  eminent  Egyptologist,  M.  Emmanuel  De 
Roget,  has  shown  from  sources  antedating  the 
Shepherd  Kings  in  Egypt  that  the  letters  of  the 
mother  alphabet  were  but  modifications  of  the 
earliest  Hieratic  or  priestly  script  as  these  were 
modifications  of  the  picture-writing  upon  the  oldest 
monuments  of  Egypt.  The  alphabets  of  all  lan- 
guages are  thus  traced  back,  step  by  step,  to  the 
pictured  hieroglyphs  from  which  they  have  all  come. 
The  alphabets  of  the  world  are  akin,  as  they  all  had 
one  common  parentage  in  the  picture-writing  of  the 
Egyptians. 

There  have  been  developed  in  the  long  course  of 
time — how  long  can  only  be  approximately  deter- 
mined— three  somewhat  independent  though  not  un- 
related sources  of  literature  whence  all  written 
language  has  been  evolved.  These  three  sources 
emerge  in  history,  whatever  the  genesis  and  how- 
ever the  process,  respectively,  in  the  hieroglyphic, 
the  cuneiform,  and  the  alphabetic  writings. 

(/)  The  hieroglyphic  writing.  In  Egypt,  and 
probably  in  Accadia,  the  hieroglyphic  or  picture-writ- 
ing was  the  earliest  mode  of  expressing  ideas.  The 
new  world,  also,  presents  a  similar  phenomenon,  as 
some  of  the  tribes  of  the  ancient  Toltecs  of  Mexico 
developed  a  system  of  picture-writing  resembling 
somewhat  that  of  North  American  Indians  and  akin 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography          93 

to  the  ancient  hieroglyphs.  With  Egyptians  this 
term  means,  literally,  the  "sacred"  writings.  The 
late  Amelia  B.  Edwards,  an  Egyptologist  of  recent 
years,  defines  the  hieroglyphic  or  "ideographic" 
writing  as  "pictures  of  objects  arranged  for  the  pur- 
pose of  conveying  sequences  of  ideas,  but  without 
any  of  the  connecting  links  which  language  sup- 
plies." And  of  picture-writing — in  recognition  of 
the  universal  limitations  of  this  earliest  form  of  writ- 
ten records — one  connected  with  the  British  Museum 
says,  further:  "Picture-writing,  moreover,  could 
only  place  images  and  symbols  side  by  side,  and  leave 
the  connection  between  them  to  be  guessed  at  or 
imagined;  it  could  neither  show  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  different  parts  of  speech,  nor  note  the  flec- 
tions and  tenses  of  the  verbs  and  the  number  and 
case  of  the  nouns,  nor  fill  up  the  gaps  of  thought  with 
adverbs,  conjunctions,  pronouns,  etc."  2  The  earli- 
est literature  of  Egypt  was  recorded  in  this  picture- 
writing  wherein  symbols  and  delineations  were  cut 
into  or  written  on  stone,  as  on  the  obelisks;  or  in 
wood,  as  in  the  mummy-cases;  or  were  written  or 
painted  on  papyrus,  as  in  "The  Book  of  the  Dead," 
deposited  with  the  mummies  of  royal  personages  in 
their  entombment.  Some  of  these  papyri  are  of 
very  great  age.  One  of  these,  The  Prisse  Papyrus, 
so  named  from  its  procurer,  is  held  to  be  the  oldest 
papyrus  in  existence.  It  was  found  near  the  middle 
of  the  last  century  in  a  Theban  tomb  of  the  eleventh 

"Assyrian  Life  and  History,  p.  40. 


94  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

dynasty  and  is  thus  older  by  centuries  than  the  time 
of  Moses  and  perhaps  antedates  the  time  of  Abra- 
ham. This  Papyrus  consists  of  eighteen  pages  of 
beautiful  hieratic  (priestly)  writing  and  is  treas- 
ured in  the  National  Library  at  Paris. 

The  last  century  of  our  Era  witnessed  two  of  the 
most  important  achievements  of  human  ingenuity  in 
relation  to  literature:  the  decipherment  of  the  hiero- 
glyphics of  Egypt  and  the  cuneiform  script  of  Assy- 
ria and  Babylonia.  Both  these  remarkable  achieve- 
ments are  credited  to  the  last  century  and  have 
added  immeasurably  to  our  knowledge  of  early 
historical  times,  corroborated  and  confirmed  much 
that  was  obscure  and  uncertain  of  the  Bible  nar- 
rative and  its  teaching,  and  opened  up  to  the  gaze 
of  all  men  for  all  time  to  come  the  most  valuable 
records  of  a  vast  period  of  human  history  which 
otherwise  would  have  remained  in  unrelieved  ob- 
scurity. These  achievements  were  the  decipherment 
of  the  Rosetta  Stone  and  the  cuneiform  writing. 

The  hieroglyphic  writing  was  of  two  classes; 
called  ideographic  in  which  ideas  were  denoted  by 
signs  or  pictures  and  phonetic  wherein  sounds  repre- 
sented ideas.  In  the  ideographic  hieroglyphs 
which  were  the  older — this  being  the  parent  writ- 
ing— the  picture  of  an  object  expressed  the  idea  of 
or  represented  the  object  itself.  A  fish,  e.  g.y  was 
denoted  by  the  outline  drawing  of  a  fish;  an  obelisk 
by  the  picture  of  that  object;  a  vulture  by  the  de- 
lineation of  that  bird,  and  so  on.  Sometimes,  how- 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography          95 

ever,  the  cause  was  put  for  the  effect,  and  vice  versa : 
thus  a  palette  and  reed  would  commonly  represent 
"writing";  it  might  also  represent  a  "scribe."  Dis- 
hevelled hair  might  represent  "grieving,"  because 
in  the  time  of  trouble  the  hair  of  the  head  would  be 
apt  to  be  disturbed  and  uncared  for.  At  a  later 
date  these  ideographic  hieroglyphics  or  pictures 
representing  ideas,  by  a  process  of  development 
from  the  basis  of  pure  primitive  picture  writing,  or 
by  the  association  and  suggestion  which  one  thing 
gave  to  another  or  to  other  things,  or  by  a  species 
of  conventionalization,  came  to  represent  sounds;— 
not  letters  but  words  or  parts  of  words.  Thus 
came  into  existence  the  other  class  of  hieroglyph- 
writing — the  "phonetic"  hieroglyphics. 

In  the  phonetic  hieroglyphics  pictures  were  used 
to  express  the  sound  of  the  objects  which  they  re- 
spectively represented;  and,  in  time,  certain  of  the 
hieroglyphics  both  expressed  and  stood  for  other  ob- 
jects; and  certain  of  the  phonetics  came  to  have  syl- 
labic value.  Afterwards,  in  the  order  of  develop- 
ment, ideas  were  communicated,  not  by  pictures  but 
by  symbols  for  pictures,  or  by  characters  that  repre- 
sented and  stood  for  definite  ideas : — A  star,  thus, 
came  to  express  the  idea  of  God,  and  a  succession 
of  herons  in  a  row  the  idea  of  "glorified  souls."  3 
Similar  is  the  archaeological  witness  from  ancient 
Mexico.  Prescott  says:  "A  Mexican  manuscript 
looks  like  a  collection  of  pictures,  each  one  forming 

'The  Dwellers  of  the  Nile,  pp.  42-44. 


96  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

the  subject  of  a  special  study.  The  Aztecs  had 
various  emblems  for  expressing  such  things  as  from 
their  nature  could  not  be  directly  represented  by  the 
painter.  A  'tongue,'  for  example,  denoted  speak- 
ing; a  'footprint,'  traveling;  a  'man  on  the 
ground,'  an  earthquake.  These  symbols  were  often 
very  arbitrary,  varying  with  the  caprice  of  the 
writer;  and  it  required  wise  discrimination  to  in- 
terpret them,  as  a  slight  change  in  the  form  or  posi- 
tion of  the  figure  intimated  a  very  different  meaning. 
They  also  employed  phonetic  signs,  though  these 
were  chiefly  confined  to  the  names  of  persons  and 
places.  Lastly,  the  pictures  were  colored  in  gaudy 
contrasts,  so  as  to  produce  the  most  vivid  impres- 
sion, for  even  colors  speak  in  the  Aztec  hiero- 
glyphics." 4 

Both  the  ideographic  and  the  phonetic  hiero- 
glyphics are  referred  to  in  the  following  from  Pro- 
fessor Hutson :  "The  ideographs  were  first  pic- 
tures pure  and  simple  of  actual  objects.  A  large 
number  of  them  became  ultimately  symbolic,  repre- 
senting any  one  of  a  large  group  of  ideas,  and  need- 
ing its  nearest  group  of  phonetics  to  give  it  definite- 
ness.  The  phonetics  expressed  the  sounds  of  syl- 
lables, not  of  letters,  as  in  the  case  with  our  alpha- 
bets. Some  of  these  phonetics  even  came  to  be  used 
eventually  as  representatives  of  letters." 5  Thus 
in  the  phonetic  writing  the  scribe  finally  expressed 

4  The  Conquest  of  Mexico,  Vol.  I ;  p.  98. 
"  The  Beginnings  of  Civilization,  pp.  39,  40. 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography          97 

sounds  independent  of  pictures  or  symbols  and  so 
created  "words"  through  which  ideas  were  recorded, 
perpetuated,  and  disseminated.  There  were  about 
two  thousand  of  the  hieroglyphic  signs. 

At  best,  the  picture-writing,  while  intelligible 
enough  to  its  originators,  was  an  incomplete  and 
clumsy  method  of  treasuring  and  transmitting  knowl- 
edge. It  was  very  liable  to  misinterpretation  and 
misapplication.  It  was  always  exposed  to  the  pos- 
sibility of  being  misunderstood,  inasmuch  as  every 
picture  might  have  a  variety  of  applications  or  signi- 
fications, and  thus  might  represent  a  number  of  dif- 
ferent though  kindred  things  or  conceptions. 
"Thus  in  Egyptian  we  find  two  legs  might  repre- 
sent simply  the  legs  of  a  man,  but  they  might  de- 
note 'walking,'  'going,'  'running,'  'standing,'  'sup- 
port,' and  even  'growth,'  and  their  significance  had 
to  be  divined  without  further  explanation  or  assist- 
ance." 6  The  exposure  to  error  involved  in  the 
decipherment  of  the  ancient  picture-writing  may  be 
illustrated  by  what  is  said  to  have  been  an  actual 
occurrence  of  modern  times.  It  is  related  of  an  il- 
literate though  not  necessarily  ignorant  grocer  who, 
being  unable  to  write,  kept  his  accounts  by  picturing 
the  various  articles  bought  and  sold  at  his  little 
store.  Usually  there  was  no  occasion  for  any  one 
to  dispute  the  accuracy  of  his  "charges"  though  they 
were  recorded  in  a  species  of  hieroglyphics — his  own 
invention.  On  one  occasion,  however,  the  grocer 

'Assyrian  Life  and  History,  pp.  39,  40. 


98  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

was  taken  to  task  by  a  customer  who  "questioned" 
the  "account"  of  a  cheese  which  had  been  "charged 
up"  against  him.  The  customer  protested  that  he 
had  never  bought  a  whole  cheese,  but  acknowledged 
that  he  had  bought  what  resembled  a  whole  cheese 
in  shape — a  grindstone.  This  admission  supplied  a 
clue  to  the  error  in  the  grocer's  "charges,"  for,  in 
his  picture-record  he  had  inadvertently  omitted  the 
square  hole  in  the  center  of  his  picture  which  would 
have  transformed  the  "charge"  of  a  cheese  into  that 
of  a  grindstone.  In  like  manner,  there  was  always 
an  imminent  and  special  exposure  to  error  in  the 
"record"  with  the  ideographic  hieroglyphic  writing. 
And  in  addition  to  the  inherent  disabilities  of  the 
picture-writing  and  its  exposure  to  a  mistaken  deci- 
pherment, these  hieroglyphics  gradually  lost  some- 
what of  their  purely  representative  and  symbolical 
value  and  thus,  by  being  conventionalized,  came  into 
a  more  universal  and  a  permanent  use.  Out  of  this 
fact  grew  the  larger  significance  of  the  demotic 
writing  as  contrasted  with  the  hieratic  or  priestly 
writing. 

These  ancient  Egyptian  writings,  both  the  hiero- 
glyphic and  the  demotic,  were,  alike,  a  sealed  litera- 
ture until  the  discovery  (in  1799)  of  the  Rosetta 
Stone — and  its  subsequent  decipherment  by  Cham- 
pollion  and  Young.  The  inscription  of  this  most 
important  "find"  is  cut  into  a  basalt  slab,  three  feet 
two  inches  long  and  two  feet  five  inches  wide.  On 
this  slab  is  carved  a  tri-lingual  decree  of  Ptolemy 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography          99 

Epiphanes  in  hieroglyphic  or  the  earliest  form  of 
picture-writing,  in  demotic  or  the  later  writing  of 
the  people  as  distinguished  from  that  of  the  priests, 
and  in  Greek  or  the  language  resulting  from  Alex- 
ander's domination  of  the  world — the  common 
tongue  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era.  The 
former  two  inscriptions,  though  in  forms  of  the 
Egyptian  language  long  "dead"  and  undecipherable, 
were  given  a  material  resurrection  through  their 
Greek  consort.  The  Greek  language,  therefore, 
was  the  key  to  unlock,  not  the  inscription  of  the 
Rosetta  Stone  alone  but  also  the  vast  treasure  house 
of  the  ancient  Egyptian  literature.  By  means  of  the 
"golden  guess"  or  the  hypothesis  of  Dr.  Young  that 
each  part  of  the  tri-lingual  inscription  on  the  Ro- 
setta Stone  referred  to  or  contained  the  same  sub- 
ject-matter though  in  different  writings;  through  the 
ascertainable  meaning  of  the  Greek  part  of  the  in- 
scription (including  the  proper  names  of  Ptolemy 
and  Cleopatra)  ;  and  through  the  untiring  patience 
of  these  early  Egyptologists,  the  hitherto  unknown 
meaning,  not  only  of  the  Rosetta  Stone  but  of  the 
entire  Egyptian  hieroglyphs,  has  been  opened  up 
to  the  world's  view. 

(2)  The  cuneiform  writing.  Scarcely  second  in 
time  or  importance  to  the  .hieroglyphs  of  Egypt 
was  the  cuneiform  or  wedge-shaped  writing  of  the 
primitive  Accadians  of  Mesopotamia,  and  communi- 
cated by  them  to  the  after  Assyrians  and  Babylonians. 
The  cuneiform  writing  was  probably  derived  from  an 


ioo  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

earlier  hieroglyphic  language  among  the  most 
primitive  people  of  Accad.  This  is  evidenced  by 
the  pictured  monuments  and  inscribed  temple  walls 
and  gates  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia.  Writing,  both 
in  Egypt  and  in  Assyro-Babylonia,  and  also  in  the 
(as  yet)  undeciphered  language  of  the  Cretans,  be- 
gan with  pictures.  The  cuneiform  system  of  writ- 
ing, it  is  held,  must  have  taken  centuries  to  have 
reached  the  stage  at  which  it  is  first  found.  "It  be- 
gan, no  doubt,"  says  Mr.  James  Baikie,  "with  pure 
picture-writing,  as  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphic  sys- 
tem began;  but  while  the  Egyptians  maintained  the 
pictorial  element  of  their  system  to  the  end,  develop- 
ing alongside  of  it  the  hieratic  and  demotic  systems 
of  writing  for  ordinary  purposes,  the  race  in  ques- 
tion had  already,  when  we  first  meet  with  their  writ- 
ing, got  away  from  any  trace  of  the  picture  stage. 
Their  writing  is  already  the  arrow-headed  or  cunei- 
form script  which  persisted  right  down  to  the  fall 
of  the  great  empires  of  the  ancient  East."  7  "Not 
unlike  other  script,"  says  Professor  Albert  T.  Clay, 
"the  cuneiform  was  originally  pictorial;  but,  as  in 
Egypt,  the  hieroglyphs  became  more  and  more 
simplified  and  conventionalized.  But,  unlike  the 
Egyptians,  the  Babylonian  or  Sumerian  became  con- 
ventionalized at  a  time  prior  to  the  known  history  of 
the  land;  and  the  hieroglyphs  were  not  continued  in 
use  even  for  monumental  purposes,  but  were  prac- 

7  National  Geographic  Magazine,  Vol.  XXIX,  p.  135. 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography        101 

tically  lost  sight  of."  8  This  conclusion  is  shared  by 
no  less  a  distinguished  scholar  than  Professor  Sayce. 
He  held  that  "the  pictures  were  first  painted  on  the 
leaves  of  the  papyrus  which  grew  in  the  marshes  of 
the  Euphrates,  but  as  time  went  on  a  new  and  more 
plentiful  writing  material  came  to  be  employed  in  the 
shape  of  clay."  °  This  clay  which  was  found  under 
foot  everywhere,  when  prepared,  was  employed  by 
different  peoples  of  western  Asia  and  for  a  large  va- 
riety of  specific  uses: — for  literary  and  historical  rec- 
ords; for  mathematical  tables;  for  correspondence; 
for  legal  documents  which  were  often  enclosed  in 
protecting  envelopes  of  clay;  for  business  transac- 
tions, contracts  being  witnessed  unto,  in  the  absence 
of  seals,  by  each  party  pressing  his  thumb-nail  into 
the  plastic  clay,  thus  insuring  the  preservation  of  his 
signature  for  ages;  in  short,  for  all  literary,  histori- 
cal, mathematical,  commercial,  and  social  purposes. 
The  cuneiform  writing,  whether  derived  from  the 
earlier  hieroglyphs  or  developed  independently  by 
the  Accadians,  was  employed  with  all  but  unlimited 
fertility  by  the  Assyro-Babylonian  civilization.  The 
writing  was  distinguished  from  the  hieroglyphic  in 
that  it  was  made  up,  in  its  entirety,  of  a  single,  wedge- 
shaped  or  arrow-headed-like  character,  formed  with 
a  metal  stylus  having  a  triangular  end.  By  pressing 
this  stylus  in  the  plastic  clay  of  the  prepared  tablet 
or  cylinder  a  sharply  defined  and  angular  shaped 

8  National  Geographic  Magazine,  Vol.  XXIX,  p.  166. 
"Assyria:  Its  Princes,  Priests,  and  People,  p.  93. 


IO2  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

indentation  was  impressed  and,  afterward,  the  clay 
with  its  writing  was  hardened  by  exposure  to  the 
sun  or  baked  by  fire  into  an  almost  imperishable 
"record."  The  all  but  indestructible  character  of 
this  material  accounts  for  the  large  proportion  of 
the  Assyrian  literature  which  has  been  preserved 
through  tens  of  centuries. 

Professor  Albert  T.  Clay  describes  the  prepara- 
tion and  use  of  this  material  as  follows :  "The  well- 
kneeded  clay,  which  had  been  washed  to  free  it  from 
grit  and  sand,  while  in  a  plastic  condition  was 
shaped  into  the  form  and  size  desired.  .  .  .  The 
stylus,  which  was  made  of  metal  or  wood,  was  a  very 
simple  affair.  In  the  early  periods  it  was  triangular 
and  in  the  later  quadrangular.  ...  By  pressing  a 
corner  of  it  into  the  soft  clay,  the  impression  made 
will  be  that  of  a  wedge;  hence  the  term  cuneiform 
(from  the  Latin  cunues)  writing."  10 

The  single  simple  character  (  ^»  )  from  which 
the  cuneiform  writing  was  entirely  constructed  was 
used  in  multitudinous  combinations  and  in  various 
positions  (somewhat  as  the  Chinese  ideographic 
characters  are  still  used)  to  record  the  thoughts  and 
deeds  of  the  primitive  Accadians.  Great  libraries, 
written  in  cuneiform,  were  accumulated  in  different 
centers  of  population;  these  were  transmitted  to  the 
succeeding  Assyrians  and  Babylonians.  The  cunei- 
form writing  was  read  in  the  prevailing  direction 
which  the  characters  pointed. 

*  National  Geographic  Magazine,  Vol.  XXIX,  p.  166. 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography        103 

The  "key"  to  the  decipherment  of  the  cuneiform 
writing — as  that  employed  in  the  decipherment  of 
the  Egyptian  hieroglyphs — was  a  "lucky  guess"  by 
Dr.  Grotefend,  a  German  scholar.  Following  the 
clue  of  a  few  known  names  on  the  monuments,  veri- 
fying by  these  the  conjectural  values  of  six  cuneiform 
combinations,  he  reached  basal  conclusions  from 
which,  finally,  the  Assyro-Babylonian  scholars  have 
been  enabled  to  read  these  ancient  cuneiform  texts 
and  inscriptions  with  as  much  assurance  as  the  pages 
of  the  Old  Testament  Hebrew;  and  so  he  opened  up 
to  view  a  vast  body  of  the  otherwise  un-read  records 
of  the  past.  Thus  the  writings  of  the  great  li- 
braries written  in  this  character,  as  at  Assur,  Calah, 
and  Nineveh,  though  buried  from  sight  for  multi- 
plied centuries,  are  now  accessible  through  the  la- 
bors of  the  Assyriologists. 

The  cuneiform  literature  has  one  preeminent 
distinction — its  comparative  incorruptibility.  Manu- 
scripts of  parchment  or  papyrus  can  be  easily 
tampered  with;  their  contents  altered  or  erased; 
additions  inserted,  and  parts  cut  out  bodily.  They 
are  destructible  by  fire  and  water;  by  time  and  men. 
Of  the  exposure  of  the  papyrus  literature,  in  par- 
ticular, Mr.  George  H.  Putnam  says :  "Papyrus  was 
an  extremely  perishable  substance.  Damp,  worms, 
moth,  mice,  were  all  deadly  enemies  to  the  papyrus 
rolls,  but  even  if,  through  persistent  watchfulness, 
these  were  guarded  against,  the  mere  handling  of 
the  rolls,  even  by  the  most  careful  readers,  brought 


IO4  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

them  rapidly  to  destruction."  n  This  statement 
would  apply  as  well  though  not  to  the  same  extent 
to  the  literature  embodied  on  parchment  and  vellum. 
The  writing  on  tablets,  to  the  contrary,  was  measur- 
ably proof  against  the  obliterations  of  time  and  use 
and  accident.  The  immense  number  of  the  tablets 
which  remain  after  millenniums  of  years  is  proof 
positive  that  the  cuneiform  literature  is  almost  un- 
affected by  the  "hand  of  slowly  destroying  Time." 
The  British  Museum  contains  the  largest  collection 
of  cuneiform  tablets  in  the  world, — Sir  Henry  Lay- 
ard,  over  half  a  century  ago,  contributed  thereto 
more  than  twenty  thousand  tablets,  part  results  of 
his  explorations  on  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh. 

(3)  The  alphabetic  writing.  The  alphabet,  to- 
gether with  the  printing-press,  is  to  be  regarded  as 
among  the  most  important  associated  inventions  of 
all  time.  With  due  respect  for  tradition  and  oral 
teaching,  no  great  permanent  progress  in  civilization 
could  have  come  about  without  some  mode  of  writ- 
ing. It  has  been  said  that  "till  one  generation  of 
men  could  transmit  to  the  next  the  knowledge  which 
they  had  acquired,  and  leave  behind  them  a  record 
of  their  experiments  and  observations,  the  arts  and 
sciences  must  have  remained  forever  in  a  very  rudi- 
mentary state,  and  civilization,  after  reaching  a  cer- 
tain early  stage  of  development,  would  have  re- 
mained almost  stationary."  Canon  Taylor  affirms 
that  "every  system  of  non-alphabetic  (/.  e.,  hiero- 

"  Authors  and  Their  Public,  p.  270. 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography        105 

glyphic  or  syllabic)  writing  would  have  been  either 
so  limited  in  its  power  of  expression  as  to  be  of 
small  practical  value,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  so  dif- 
ficult and  complicated,  as  to  be  unsuited  to  general 


use." 


A  concensus  of  present  opinion  among  scholars 
ascribes  the  parentage  of  the  alphabetic  literature— 
at  least  as  related  to  the  development  of  civiliza- 
tion— to  the  ancient  Phoenicians.  The  alphabetic 
writing  may  have  descended  from  Crete  to  the 
Phoenicians,  who,  in  turn,  mediated  it  to  all  the  after 
ages.  (The  Chinese  literature,  while  it  is  conceded 
to  have  had  a  remote  origin  and  a  prolific  develop- 
ment, cannot  be  regarded  as  an  alphabetic  literature. 
It  has  more  of  kinship  with  the  cuneiform  than 
either  the  hieroglyphic  or  the  alphabetic  writing.) 

Testimony  as  to  the  source  of  the  alphabetic  writ- 
ing is  available:  "The  vast  majority  of  alphabets 
are  descended  from  the  so-called  Phoenician  which 
is  the  earliest  known,  and  was  in  existence  near  a 
thousand  years  B.  C.,  although  it  was  probably  in- 
fluenced by  the  still  more  ancient  syllabary  script  of 
the  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  and  the  Sumerians  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  Egyptian  pictographs  on  the 
other."  12  "The  Phoenicians  were  certainly  using 
it"  (the  alphabet)  uwith  freedom  in  the  ninth  century 
B.  C.  According  to  the  view  accepted  till  recently, 
the  alphabet  was  borrowed  by  the  Phoenicians  from 
the  cursive  (hieratic)  form  of  the  ancient  Egyptian 

11  Nelson's  Encyclopedia. 


106  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

hieroglyphs.  .  .  .  The  more  recent  view  is  that  of 
Dr.  A.  J.  Evans  who  argues  ingeniously  that  the 
alphabet  was  taken  over  from  Crete  by  the  'Chereth- 
ites1  and  Telethites'  or  Philistines,  who  established 
for  themselves  settlements  on  the  coasts  of  Palestine. 
From  them  it  passed  to  the  Phoenicians,  who  were 
their  near  neighbors,  if  not  their  kinsfolk."  13  Of  the 
alphabetic  writing  Professor  Sayce  says:  "The  his- 
tory of  our  alphabet  is  a  record  of  slow  stages  of 
growth,  through  which  the  idea  of  jo/W-writing  has 
been  evolved.  The  first  effort  to  record  an  event,  so 
as  to  make  it  widely  known,  would  naturally  be  to 
draw  a  picture  of  it.  A  written  word,  let  us  remem- 
ber, is  the  picture  of  a  sound."  And  in  the  same  con- 
nection, he  says  that  the  ancient  Phoenicians  (because 
they  were  the  great  traders  and  settlers  of  the  early 
world)  were  most  in  need  of  a  clear,  precise,  and 
communicable  method  of  writing.  The  alphabetic 
writing  was  such  a  method. 

The  desire  and  necessity  for  a  medium  of  thought- 
exchange  that  might  serve  as  the  means  of  com- 
municating ideas  to  persons  at  a  distance,  and  by 
means  of  which  information  and  desires  might  be 
exchanged  independent  of  personal  contact,  probably 
led  to  the  invention  or  expedited  the  development  of 
the  alphabetic  writing,  which  differed  from  both  the 
hieroglyphic  and  the  cuneiform  writings.  This 
seems  to  have  been  the  genesis  of  the  alphabet;  and 
the  Phoenicians  are  commonly  regarded  as  the  first 

"Encyclopedia  Britannica  (Eleventh  Edition). 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography        107 

to  have  employed  it  for  this  purpose.  At  any  rate 
an  alphabetic  form  of  writing  by  means  of  what  has 
been  designated  an  "ideographic  alphabet,"  an  alpha- 
bet expressing  ideas  by  means  of  letters  (whether 
original  or  an  inheritance)  was  in  use  by  the  Phoeni- 
cians as  early  as  about  1,000  B.  C.  In  the  estimate 
of  scholars,  all  our  alphabets  (varying  in  the  num- 
ber of  letters,  respectively,  from  twenty-two  in  the 
Hebrew  to  forty-nine  in  the  Sanscrit)  have  come 
down  to  our  times,  however  circuitous  may  have 
been  the  route,  by  way  of  the  old  Phoenicians. 

[Explorations  recently  made  in  Crete,  in  which 
Dr.  A.  J.  Evans  has  borne  a  conspicuous  part,  have 
revealed  a  high  state  of  civilization  existing  there, 
long  anterior  to  that  of  Egypt  or  Assyria,  and  dis- 
closed "The  existence  of  a  highly  advanced  civiliza- 
tion, going  back  far  behind  the  historic  period." 
Among  other  interesting  "finds,"  more  than  a  thou- 
sand clay  tablets  were  unearthed  in  the  ancient  pal- 
ace of  Cnossos.  The  great  conflagration  which 
long,  long  ago  destroyed  the  palace  served,  by  baking 
these  tablets,  to  make  them  more  permanent. 
These  tablets  vary  in  size  and  shape  and  the  charac- 
ter of  their  writing,  being  inscribed  "both  in  picto- 
graphic  and  linear  forms  of  the  Minoan  script." 
As  based  on  the  results  of  these  explorations,  a  claim 
is  made  for  the  ante-Phoenician  origin  of  the  alpha- 
betic writing  there  discovered.  In  accordance  with 
this  hypothesis  it  is  held  that  the  Phoenicians  only 
appropriated  and  developed  what  had  come  to  them 


io8  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

from  Crete — what  had  existed  in  Crete  for  centuries 
previously.  But  it  was  no  less  an  important  service 
which  the  Phoenicians  contributed  though  it  be  here- 
after shown  conclusively  that  they  merely  appropri- 
ated what  had  descended  to  them  from  the  earlier 
Cretan  civilization. 

These  Cretan  tablets  are,  as  yet,  undecipherable. 
They  are  written  in  an  unknown  tongue  and  await 
the  discovery  of  some  bi-lingual  text  or  inscription 
which  shall  prove,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Rosetta 
Stone,  the  line  of  cleavage  to  the  interpretation  of 
what  is,  possibly,  the  earliest  of  all  written  languages. 
The  characters  of  these  tablets  are  varied,  consist- 
ing of  linear  writing  and  of  hieroglyphics.  Dr. 
Evans  thus  sums  up  the  present  evidence  of  the 
earlier  Minoan  or  pre-Cretan  origin  of  this  alpha- 
betic writing:  "When  we  examine  in  detail  the 
linear  script  of  these  Mycenaean  documents,  it  is 
impossible  not  to  recognize  that  we  have  here  a 
system  of  writing,  syllabic  and  perhaps  purely  al- 
phabetic, which  stands  on  a  distinctly  higher  level  of 
development  than  the  hieroglyphs  of  Egypt  or  the 
cuneiform  script  of  contemporary  Syria  and  Baby- 
lon." »] 

The  earliest  alphabetic  document,  in  a  language 
that  is  decipherable,  and  the  date  of  which  is  ap- 
proximately determinable,  is  the  famous  Moabite 
Stone.  This  relic  of  the  remote  past  was  discovered 

14  Encyclopedia  Britannica  (Eleventh  Edition)  "Crete."  National 
Geographic  Magazine,  January,  1912. 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography        109 

in  1868  among  the  ruins  of  Dibon  by  Dr.  Klein,  a 
missionary  of  the  Church  of  England  while  touring 
in  the  region  once  known  as  the  land  of  Moab,  and 
whence  its  designation.  The  Moabite  Stone  is  a 
slab  of  black  basalt,  nearly  four  feet  high  and  two 
feet  wide,  rounded  at  the  top,  and  contains  an  in- 
scription of  thirty-four  lines  cut  in  Phoenician  charac- 
ters. It  is  ascribed  to  the  first  half  of  the  ninth 
century  B.  C.  The  Stone  was  intact  when  discov- 
ered though  it  suffered  an  attempted  destruction  by 
Arabs  before  it  could  be  removed  to  a  place  of  safety. 
The  preserved  fragments  contain  six  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  characters,  and  many  additional  charac- 
ters have  been  restored  from  the  surviving  portions. 
The  inscription  on  the  Stone  contains  the  account  of 
Mesha's  breaking  away  from  the  rule  of  Israel  and 
gives  striking  corroboration  of  the  scripture  record 
(II  Kings  3:  4-27)  and  recounts  that  the  king 
Mesha,  after  Ahab's  death,  "rebelled  against  the 
king  of  Israel."  "The  whole  inscription,"  says 
Professor  Sayce,  "reads  like  a  chapter  from  one 
of  the  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  Not 
only  are  the  phrases  the  same,  but  the  words  and 
the  grammatical  forms  are,  with  one  or  two  excep- 
tions, all  found  in  scriptural  Hebrew."  He  adds, 
further,  "The  Moabite  Stone  shows  us  what  were 
the  forms  of  the  Phoenician  letters  used  on  the  east- 
ern side  of  the  Jordan  in  the  time  of  Ahab.  The 
forms  employed  in  Israel  and  Judah  on  the  western 
side  could  not  have  differed  much;  and  we  may  there- 


iio  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

fore  see  in  these  venerable  characters  the  precise 
mode  of  writing  employed  by  the  earlier  prophets 
of  the  Old  Testament."15 

But  the  surpassing  interest  which  the  Moabite 
Stone  possesses  for  the  antiquarian  is  not  its  cor- 
roboration  of  remote  Israelitish  history  or  the  sub- 
stantial identity  of  its  letters  with  the  Hebrew  forms, 
but,  rather,  its  contribution  to  all  alphabetic  liter- 
ature of  all  the  past.  This  will  appear  in  a  quota- 
tion from  the  late  Wm.  Frost  Bishop,  D.D. :  uThe 
essential  features  in  the  outline  of  each  of  our  own 
letters  may  be  detected  easily  in  the  characters  of 
the  Moabite  Stone,  written  2,900  years  ago.  .  .  . 
The  primitive  Semitic  inscription  of  this  stone  con- 
tains the  alphabet  from  which  all  existing  alphabets 
have  been  derived.  It  exhibits  the  embryo  forms 
of  all  the  letters — 2,000  or  3,000  in  number — in 
every  one  of  the  alphabets  which  are  now  in  use 
throughout  the  world.  It  might  thus  be  termed  the 
great  mother  alphabet  of  the  world." 16  The 
Moabite  Stone  in  itself  would  seem  to  indicate  a 
more  or  less  general  as  well  as  an  understanding  use 
of  the  alphabet  in  which  it  is  inscribed  throughout 
that  region  at  an  early  date — perhaps  at  a  much 
earlier  date  than  that  of  the  inscription — as  the 
Code  of  Hammurabi,  set  up  at  Susa  in  Persia,  indi- 
cates a  more  or  less  general  acquaintance  with  the 
cuneiform  characters  in  which  the  laws  of  that  an- 

u  Fresh  Light  from  the  Ancient  Monuments,  pp.  79,  82. 
"  Article  on  "The  World's  One  Alphabet" 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Palaography        in 

cient  monarch  were  promulgated.  Supporting  this 
conclusion,  Mr.  E.  C.  Richardson  holds  that  there 
is  "growing  evidence  of  the  prevailing  use  of  hand- 
writing all  over  Palestine,  by  not  later  than  the  ninth 
century."  1T  Professor  Sayce,  referring  to  the  criti- 
cism that  would  deny  the  pre-exilic  origin  of  the 
larger  part  of  the  Old  Testament  literature  on  the 
ground  that  the  early  Israelites  could  not  read  or 
write,  says:  "This  supposed  late  use  of  writing  for 
literary  purposes  was  merely  an  assumption,  with 
nothing  more  solid  to  rest  upon  than  the  critic's  own 
theories  and  prepossessions.  And  as  soon  as  it 
could  be  tested  by  solid  fact  it  crumbled  into  dust."  18 
Closely  identified  with  the  Moabite  Stone,  both  in 
the  time  of  its  supposed  production  and  in  its  alpha- 
betic characteristics,  is  the  Siloam  Inscription  at 
Jerusalem,  laid  bare  to  the  world's  gaze  in  1881. 
The  discovery  of  this  valuable  treasure  of  Palestin- 
ian records  was  due  to  fortuitous  circumstances,  as 
has  been  many  another  important  "find."  [A  boy 
wading  in  the  channel  cut  in  the  rock  leading  to  the 
Pool  first  discovered  the  writing,  partly  concealed 
by  water,  on  the  southern  wall  of  the  channel.19] 
The  Siloam  Inscription,  though  brief — containing 
only  six  lines,  with  the  writing  partly  destroyed — has 
great  philological  and  historical  value.  According 
to  the  judgment  of  scholars  this  inscription  was 

17  International  Standard  Bible  Ency.,  art.  "Books." 

18  Monument  Facts,  Etc.,  pp.  28,  29. 

19  Fresh  Light  from  the  Ancient  Monuments,  pp.  83,  84. 


112  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

executed  in  the  reign  of  King  Hezekiah  and  may 
have  been  designed  to  celebrate  and  memorialize  his 
distinguished  achievement,  recorded  in  scripture  (II 
Chronicles  32:30).  Its  complete  translation  has 
been  accomplished.  The  letters  of  this  writing  are 
held  by  some  archaeologists  and  philologists  to  ex- 
hibit, possibly,  even  older  forms  than  those  con- 
tained in  the  inscription  of  the  Moabite  Stone.  The 
inscriptions  are  closely  related.  Of  the  Moabite 
Stone  a  Jewish  writer  holds  that  "the  language, 
with  slight  deviation,  is  Hebrew,  and  reads  almost 
like  a  chapter  from  the  Book  of  Kings";  and,  of  the 
Siloam  Inscription,  that  "it  is  pure  Hebrew."  20 

(4)  Classic  writing.  Each  country  and  people 
has  had  a  palaeography,  in  some  respects,  of  its  own, 
and  developed  by  its  own  individual  history,  al- 
though modified,  often,  by  the  adjacent  countries  and 
contemporaneous  peoples.  The  palaeography  of  a 
civilization  is  sometimes  taken  up  by  other  civiliza- 
tions and,  in  turn,  may  be  transmitted  as  an  in- 
heritance to  other  generations.  Almost  every  cen- 
tury has  had  its  own  specific  "hand,"  and  the  "hand" 
throughout  human  history  has  constantly  undergone 
change.  Sometimes  the  change  has  been  for  the 
better;  at  other  times  the  change  has  been  for  the 
worse;  the  change  in  handwriting  going  on  at  the 
present  time  can  hardly  be  accredited  for  the  worse, 
and  for  the  reason  that,  speaking  inclusively,  it  now 
seems  to  have  attained  unto  the  superlatively  bad. 

**The  Jewish  Encyclopedia. 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography        113 

"Handwriting,  like  every  other  art,  has  its  different 
phases  of  growth,  perfection,  and  decay.  A  par- 
ticular form  of  writing  is  gradually  developed,  then 
takes  the  finished  or  caligraphic  style  and  becomes 
the  'hand'  of  the  period;  then  deteriorates,  breaks 
up,  and  disappears,  or  drags  out  only  an  artificial 
existence — being  superceded,  meanwhile,  by  another 
'hand'  which,  either  developed  from  an  older  hand 
or  introduced  independently,  runs  the  same  course 
and,  in  its  turn,  is  displaced  by  a  younger  rival."  -1 
The  "Spencerian"  and  the  "vertical"  hands  are  well- 
known  and  present-day  applications  of  this  law  of 
change  or  development  in  the  form  of  written 
language. 

(5)  The  two  great  stages  of  classic  writing. 
Another  fact  concerning  palaeography  merits  more 
than  a  passing  notice — it  is  the  two  great  stages  of 
the  classical  writing.  The  Greek  handwriting,  in 
which  much  of  the  best  classic  literature  was  written 
(in  which  the  New  Testament,  with  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  Matthew's  gospel,  and  the  Old  Testament 
of  the  Septuagint  Version  were  written ;  and  in  which, 
furthermore,  a  large  proportion  of  the  writings  by 
the  early  Christian  teachers  and  apologists  and  also 
those  of  the  heathen  and  heretical  controversialists 
of  the  early  centuries  were  written),  passed  through 
two  clearly  defined  and  distinctly  separated  stages, 
known,  respectively,  as  the  uncial  and  the  minuscule 
"hands."  The  "uncial"  was  the  large  letter  hand, 

"Encyclopedia  Britannica   (Eleventh  Edition). 


H4  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

and  the  dominant  style  from  the  time  of  the  earliest 
written  productions  in  Greek  down  to  the  ninth 
century.  The  "minuscule"  (called  also  the  "cur- 
sive") was  the  small  letter  or  the  "running"  hand 
and  continued  in  use,  comprehensively,  from  the 
ninth  century  A.  D.  (though  known  earlier),  when 
it  largely  displaced  the  "uncial"  style,  on,  until  the 
invention  of  printing  superceded  handwriting  as  the 
treasuring  and  disseminating  medium  of  literary 
productions. 

The  difference  in  size  and  style  of  the  letters 
was  not  the  only  nor,  perhaps,  the  chief  demarcation 
between  these  "hands";  there  was  a  broad  distinc- 
tion also  in  the  relation  of  the  letters  to  one  an- 
other. In  the  uncial  hand  each  letter  was  separated 
from  the  other  letters  as  in  printing;  but  in  the 
minuscule  style  the  letters  of  words  were  joined  to- 
gether in  a  "running"  hand  as  in  modern  writing, 
thus  facilitating  rapidity  in  the  use  of  the  pen. 
Capitalization  was  little  regarded  in  the  early  cen- 
turies; and  punctuation  as  a  system  was  not  known. 
These  two  distinctions  of  the  uncial  and  the  minuscule 
hands  were  applied  also  to  the  productions  written 
in  Latin,  though  the  uncial  characters  gave  place  to 
the  small  letter  or  "current"  hand  at  an  earlier  date 
among  the  Roman  than  among  the  Greek  copyists. 
This  was  probably  owing  to  the  decadence  of  the 
Greek  language  and  the  consequent  ascendency  of 
the  Latin. 

The  most  important  systems  of  writing,  for  many 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography        115 

centuries — from  a  time  long  previous  to  the  Chris- 
tian Era  and  on  throughout  the  Middle  Ages — 
were  those  which  employed  the  classic  Greek  and 
Latin  alphabets,  and  in  which  the  great  body  of  the 
world's  best  literature  was  written.  At  least  this 
was  true  within  the  bounds  of  Europe.  With  the 
declining  literary  importance  of  Alexandria  came 
the  growing  prominence  of  the  region  north  of  the 
Mediterranean.  The  Greek  alphabet  and  language 
held  preeminence  for  centuries,  beginning  with  Alex- 
ander's conquest  and  extending  into  the  early  Chris- 
tian centuries  when  they  were  displaced,  early  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  under  the  Latin  ascendency.  Dur- 
ing the  increasing  domination  of  the  Latin  alphabet 
and  literature,  national  and  provincial  "hands"  were 
developed  and  came  into  active  competition  in  the 
centuries  previous  to  the  invention  of  printing.  The 
handwriting  which  was  of  specifically  Roman  lineage 
was  gradually  modified  by  environing  conditions  in 
the  different  sections  of  Europe  and  resulted  in 
various  "hands,"  as  the  "Lombardic"  hand  of  Italy, 
the  "Visigothic"  hand  of  Spain,  and  the  "Meroving- 
ian" and  (later)  the  "Carolingian"  hand  of  the 
Prankish  Empire. 

(6)  The  Anglo-Saxon  writing.  The  Anglo-Sax- 
on handwriting  is  an  inheritance  from  the  Latin 
national  hand.  In  this  "descent"  (or,  is  it  "as- 
cent"?) of  our  modern  English  "hand,"  in  the  long 
process  of  its  genealogy,  the  Latin  displaced  the 
earlier  Greek,  as  the  Greek  had  won  its  way  over  the 


n6  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

still  earlier  Phoenician  and  Hebrew.  In  our  modern 
English  literature  we  employ  the  Roman  alphabet 
(as  other  nationalities  are  coming  more  and  more 
to  do).  The  Roman  characters,  being  descended 
immediately  from  the  Latin,  though  modified  more 
or  less  by  the  Norman  domination  and  other  fac- 
tors, constitute  what  may  be  called  the  cosmopolitan 
alphabet  of  modern  times.  The  characters  used  in 
our  Anglo-Saxon  writing  have  come  to  their  present 
ascendency  and  increasing  supremacy  from  two 
reasons  in  particular:  First,  because  the  Latin  on 
which  it  was  based  was  the  language  of  the  educated 
classes  of  all  nations  during  the  Middle  Ages;  and 
second — and  probably  chiefly — because  the  Roman 
characters  are  better  adapted  for  rapid  writing  than 
were  the  severe  though  elegant  letters  of  the  Greek 
language.  The  shape  of  the  Roman  characters 
greatly  facilitated  the  adoption  of  the  "running" 
hand  in  the  Latin  literature. 

Many  changes  other  than  those  already  alluded 
to  have  come  about  in  the  transmission  of  literature 
from  age  to  age :  Men  at  first  wrote  from  right  to 
left  as  the  orientals  still  do.  The  peoples  of  early 
Greece  first  wrote,  as  the  Chinese  still  do,  perpendic- 
ularly to  the  page,  and  then  from  right  to  left; 
later,  backward  and  forward  from  right  to  left  and 
left  to  right  as  in  case  of  furrows  made  by  a  side- 
hill  plow;  and  lastly,  from  left  to  right  as  moderns 
do.  We  look  for  the  beginning  of  the  Hebrew 
Bible  where  our  English  Bible  ends;  and  we  read  it 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography        117 

from  right  to  left  and  turn  its  pages  from  left  to 
right.  It  is  much  the  same  with  the  Chinese  books, 
except  that  the  columns  of  reading  matter  extend 
downwards  on  the  page  from  top  to  bottom  and  not 
crosswise  to  the  page  as  in  other  languages. 

(7)  Paleography  and  the  date  of  literary  produc- 
tions. The  style  and  character  of  the  handwriting 
is  of  great  practical  importance  to  literary  criticism 
and  has  large  historical  value.  A  knowledge  as  to 
the  history  of  the  individual  letters  (and  each  in- 
dividual letter  of  the  alphabet  has  a  history  of  its 
own,  as  to  its  genesis  and  development)  and  of  the 
arrangement  and  the  appearance  of  literary  produc- 
tions is  of  the  utmost  significance  in  ascertaining  the 
age,  meaning,  and  value  of  ancient  documents.  The 
style  of  handwriting,  also,  has  a  large  place  in  de- 
termining the  time  or  period  when  a  manuscript 
was  written,  even  when  the  date  is  not  affixed,  just 
as  the  spelling  of  words  in  our  English  tongue  and 
the  fashion  of  our  typography — ever  fluctuating  at 
the  demand  of  artistic  taste  or  attractive  appear- 
ance— helps  to  determine,  in  absence  of  the  date  of 
publication,  the  approximate  time  when  a  book  was 
printed.  Illustrative  of  this,  the  author  once  placed 
on  his  library  shelves  an  attractive  set  of  books 
which  were  represented  at  the  time  of  purchase  as 
"just  from  the  press"  but  which  he  knew  at  the  time 
were  printed  from  plates  made  more  than  a  dozen 
years  before  although  they  may  have  been  "fresh 
from  the  press"; — he  knew  it  from  the  kind  of  type 


n8  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

employed  in  their  printing,  or,  more  accurately 
speaking,  he  knew  it  from  the  peculiar  quotation- 
marks  used  with  that  particular  type,  inasmuch  as 
the  style  of  quotation-marks  used  in  those  volumes 
had  passed  out  of  current  use  by  printers  and  pub- 
lishers some  years  previously,  having  had  but  a 
feeble  tenure  of  existence.  To  realize  at  a  glance 
the  ever-changing  style  of  type  in  modern  printing, 
one  needs  but  to  turn  the  pages  of  type-manufactur- 
ing catalogues.  In  like  manner,  the  style  of  hand- 
writing in  any  language  constitutes  a  kind  of  verisim- 
ilitude for  the  age  of  the  written  literature.  Dr. 
Isaac  Taylor  has  said,  "The  architecture  of  different 
periods  is  not  more  characteristic  of  the  age  to 
which  it  belongs,  than  is  the  style  of  writing  in 
manuscripts,  nor  is  there  less  of  certainty  in  de- 
termining questions  of  antiquity  in  the  one  case  than 
in  the  other."  22  As  the  periods  of  the  "Doric," 
"Ionic,"  and  "Corinthian"  architectures  are  de- 
terminable  approximately  by  their  respective  charac- 
teristics— so  the  time  of  a  literary  production  is 
largely  determined  by  the  characteristics  of  the  hand- 
writing in  which  it  is  written.  We  quote  the  words 
of  Professor  Mahaffy:  "The  task  of  palaeography 
is  now  changed.  We  have  ample  evidence  of  an- 
tiquity; we  rather  seek  to  distinguish  the  small  pe- 
culiarities of  ancient  handwriting  as  to  tell  their  age 
approximately  when  the  writer  has  affixed  no  note 
of  his  own  time.  And  this  we  do  with  wonderful 

*  History  of  the  Transmission  of  Ancient  Books. 


The  Art  and  Science  of  Paleography       119 

certainty,  because  almost  every  century  has  its  own 
hand  so  distinctly  that  even  the  man  who  attempts 
to  copy  older  fashions  can  easily  be  detected  by  his 
want  of  freedom.  Years  ago  I  was  shown,  in  the 
great  library  at  Naples,  a  manuscript  of  this  kind, 
apparently  of  the  tenth  century.  After  a  few  min- 
utes' examination,  though  I  had  never  before  seen 
such  a  thing,  I  told  the  librarian  that  it  seemed  to  me 
a  careful  copy  of  an  old  hand  by  a  laborious  scribe 
of  later  date.  He  was  surprised,  but  then  showed 
me,  what  he  had  intended  to  conceal,  a  note  at  the 
end  dated  1450,  showing  that  my  guess  was  correct. 
This  anecdote  is  quoted  to  show  that  the  freedom 
of  the  hand,  as  well  as  the  shape  of  the  letters,  must 
be  carefully  estimated  and  considered  by  the  pa- 
laeographer. By  using  a  good  microscope,  un-steadi- 
ness  of  lines  which  escape  the  naked  eye  will  be- 
come apparent;  and  this  is  now  well  known  to  those 
who  have  studied  the  detection  of  forgeries  in  crimi- 
nal cases."  23 

'•"Recent  Research  in  Bible  Lands,  pp.  194,  195. 


XV 

MECHANICAL  AND  ARTIFICIAL  DEVICES  OF 
LITERATURE 

THE  universal  divisions,  of  modern  literary 
productions  into  books,  chapters,  sections, 
paragraphs,  sentences,  and  members  of  sentences, 
together  with  capitalization  and  the  system  of 
punctuation,  are  so  important  and  so  enthralled  with 
modern  composition  and  rhetoric  that  we  could 
hardly  appreciate  or  understand  literature  apart 
from  them.  Apropos  to  this  observation,  Professor 
Dobschiitz  says:  "If  we  look  at  the  earliest  manu- 
scripts of  the  Bible  which  have  come  down  to  us, 
we  shall  almost  think  that  supernatural  assistance 
was  necessary  for  reading  them;  no  punctuation,  no 
accent,  no  space  between  the  words,  no  breaking  off 
at  the  end  of  a  sentence.  The  reader  has  to  know 
his  text  almost  entirely  by  heart  to  do  it  well."  l 

These  distinctions  of  literature  are  mechanical 
and  artificial  devices  for  clarifying  and  making  em- 
phatic a  writer's  thoughts  as  expressed  in  written  or 
printed  language  and  they  are  comparatively  mod- 
ern devices.  Punctuation  marks  are  indispensable 
in  legal  documents  and  in  all  the  commercial  opera- 

Influence  of  the  Bible  on  Civilisation,  p.  13. 
120 


Mechanical  and  Artificial  Devices  of  Literature    121 

tions  of  the  times.  The  altered  position  of  a 
comma  gives  a  changed  meaning  to  scripture  texts 
and  to  legal  documents.  (As  an  illustration  of  the 
changed  position  of  a  comma,  note  the  varying 
punctuation  of  Hebrews  10:  12  as  contained  in  dif- 
ferent editions  of  our  Authorized  Version.  In  all 
pulpit  Bibles  which  we  have  examined,  the  comma 
is.placed  after  the  word  "sins,"  while  in  the  various 
teachers'  Bibles  the  comma  follows  the  word  "for- 
ever." By  the  former  punctuation  an  important  New 
Testament  doctrine  is  negatived.) 

Imagine  yourself  trying  to  read  a  philosophical 
treatise,  a  technical  or  abstruse  discussion,  a  schol- 
arly or  scientific  essay,  a  thrilling  romance,  or  a 
legal  document,  in  which  there  were  no  distinctions 
of  paragraphs,  sentences,  phrases,  or  even  indi- 
vidual words — no  capitalization  and  no  punctuation- 
marks  of  any  kind  to  assist  in  determining  a  writer's 
thoughts  or  the  exact  meaning  of  his  composition— 
and  you  must  recognize  the  obstacles  which  confront 
the  researchers  of  ancient  literary  documents.  The 
difficulties  encountered  in  the  literature  of  the  Bible 
are  in  no  wise  diminished  when  we  recall  the  fact 
that  the  originals  of  our  sacred  writings,  both  He- 
brew and  Greek,  were  written,  for  the  most  part, 
in  solid  blocks  of  letters  analogous  to  our  capitals, 
without  any  of  the  distinguishing  limits  or  relief 
which  come  from  chapters,  verses,  pause-marks,  or 
words.  It  was  only  by  degrees  and  at  slow  stages 
that  individual  words  were  separated  from  one  an- 


122  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

other  by  a  spacing  between  them;  then,  later,  came 
the  grouping  of  words  into  sentences  by  means 
of  pause-marks  and  other  mechanical  devices  of 
literature. 

The  division  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  into  chap- 
ters and  verses  is  of  comparatively  modern  origin. 
The  chapters  of  the  Bible  are  associated  with  the 
name  of  Cardinal  Hugo  who,  at  about  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  divided  the  Latin  Bible 
into  chapters  in  order  to  facilitate  reference,  for 
comparison  of  scripture  with  scripture,  and  to  make 
available  a  commentary  which  he  had  prepared. 
The  system  of  verses,  so  useful  for  reference  in 
Bible  study,  is  associated  with  the  work  of  Robert 
Stephens,  a  printer  of  Geneva  who  divided  the  chap- 
ters of  Cardinal  Hugo's  Latin  Bible  into  verses 
and  affixed  a  numerical  notation  to  them.  This  num- 
bering of  the  verses  first  appeared  in  a  Greek  New 
Testament  which  Stephens  printed  at  Geneva  in 
1531.  The  same  volume  contained  also  the  Vulgate 
and  a  Latin  version  by  Erasmus. 

The  importance  of  punctuation-marks  as  an  ar- 
tificial aid  for  conveying  a  writer's  thoughts  and  in 
giving  emphasis  to  written  or  printed  language  can 
scarcely  be  appreciated  by  the  present  generation, 
for  it  has  always  been  accustomed  to  their  use.  In 
the  Greek  manuscripts  there  was,  at  the  first,  noth- 
ing corresponding  to  "stops"  or  pause-marks  as  in 
modern  literature.  In  the  modern  Hebrew  litera- 
ture there  are  vowels  or  vowel  "pointings"  to 


Mechanical  and  Artificial  Devices  of  Literature    1 23 

facilitate  reading;  but  these  were  not  expressed  in 
the  ancient  Hebrew  writing,  inasmuch  as  the  Hebrew 
written  language  was  made  up  exclusively  of  con- 
sonant letters  (commonly  three  letters  to  a  word) 
without  vowels  or  vowel  "pointings."  The  idiomatic 
use  of  the  respective  languages  occasioned  a  further 
difficulty:  In  English  composition,  e.  g.}  the  logical 
order  is  subject,  predicate,  object  with  their  modi- 
fiers in  order;  and  emphasis  is  indicated  by  italic 
and  CAPITAL  letters,  and  by  pause-marks  without 
varying  the  order  of  composition;  but  with  the  Greek 
and  Latin  literatures  emphasis  was  denoted  by  the 
position  of  words  in  the  sentence,  by  the  relation  of 
a  word  to  other  words,  or  in  the  use  of  words  with 
reference  to  their  modifiers. 

The  development  of  a  system  of  "pointings"  in 
order  to  bring  out  more  clearly  the  meaning  of  a 
writer  and  so  facilitate  the  reading  of  manuscript 
literature,  began  at  Alexandria,  being  first  employed 
in  poetical  writing.  A  slight  open  space  at  the  left 
of  a  line,  analogous  to  modern  indentation  in  the 
margin  at  the  beginning  of  a  paragraph,  made  its  ap- 
pearance first  on  the  papyri  at  Alexandria.  In  the 
manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament  the  earliest  at- 
tempts in  the  direction  of  punctuation  go  back  to  the 
fourth  century  A.  D.,  and  consisted  of  an  occasional 
simple  point  or  a  small  blank  space  in  the  writing, 
which,  to  that  extent,  broke  up  somewhat  the  other- 
wise monotonous  lines  of  letters.  Stichometry,  in- 
troduced in  the  fifth  century  by  a  scholar  named 


124  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

Euthalius,  was  an  arrangement  of  the  Gospels,  the 
Acts,  and  the  epistles  of  Paul  in  lines — regulated 
according  to  the  sense — each  line  terminating  where 
some  pause  should  be  made  in  the  reading;  and  so 
had  the  force  of  a  system  of  punctuation,  but,  owing 
to  the  waste  of  costly  parchment,  it  was  not  gener- 
ally or  extensively  adopted. 

Concerning  the  history  of  punctuation  marks  it  is 
claimed  that  Jerome,  the  celebrated  scholar  of  the 
fourth  and  fifth  centuries  (died  420  A.  D.)  used 
points  similar  to  our  "comma"  and  "colon."  These 
points,  while  not  in  universal  use  by  the  writers,  were 
inserted  in  many  old  manuscripts.  In  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, the  stroke  called  the  "comma"  came  into  more 
common  use,  and  a  dot  above  the  line  indicated  a 
pause  equivalent  to  the  "colon"  or  the  "semicolon," 
while  a  full  stop  was  denoted  by  a  large  dot  or 
"period"  or  a  double  dot,  and  by  a  space.  The  in- 
terrogation point,  identical  in  form  with  our  semi- 
colon, occasionally  appears.  The  "breathings"  and 
"accents"  with  which  the  Greek  literature  has  come 
down  to  us,  while  traces  of  them  appear  in  the  early 
centuries,  were  not  common  at  the  end  of  the  seventh 
century  A.  D., — those  found  in  the  Vatican  manu- 
script of  the  fourth  century  and  in  the  Alexandrian 
manuscript  of  the  fifth  were  supplied  by  a  later  hand 
than  the  writers  of  these  copies.  The  Latins,  in 
the  wake  of  the  Greeks,  adopted  their  system  of 
punctuation,  meager  as  it  was,  and  continued  its  use 
in  the  transcription  of  the  Latin  literature  through- 


Mechanical  and  Artificial  Devices  of  Literature  125 

out  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  system  of  punctuation  employed  in  all  mod- 
ern literature,  and  which  is  so  essential  a  part  of 
the  finished  rhetoric,  is  of  recent  development  as 
compared  with  the  course  of  literature,  and  dates 
from  the  time  of  a  Venetian  printer,  Aldus  Manu- 
tius,  late  in  the  fifteenth  century.  It  was  largely 
consequent  upon  the  invention  of  printing,  though 
some  of  the  punctuation-marks  of  the  modern  sys- 
tem were  used  before  the  division  of  the  sacred  lit- 
erature into  chapters  and  verses.  It  is  to  be  noted 
that  the  present  tendency  by  the  best  writers  is  to 
simplify  punctuation  as  much  as  possible. 

The  system  of  notation — as  with  many  of  the  good 
things  of  life  and  much  of  our  wisdom — like  the 
wise  men  in  the  days  of  Herod,  came  from  the 
East, — from  India  by  way  of  Arabia.  The  origin 
of  the  completed  system  of  notation  as  now  in  uni- 
versal use,  at  once  simple  and  complete,  is  com- 
paratively recent  and  obscure.  Its  origin  and  de- 
velopment had  both  a  practical  and  a  philosophical 
side.  Its  beginnings  antedate  the  earliest  art,  lit- 
erature, and  science.  It  began  in  counting  and  in 
some  sort  of  tally  of  separate  units, — perhaps  upon 
the  fingers.  Probably  the  ten  digits  of  the  two  hands 
suggested  the  widely-extended  and  ever-available 
scale  of  ten  for  comparison  and  estimate.  Other 
scales  than  ten  for  counting  and  calculation  have  been 
employed  by  tribes  and  nations : — scales  of  twos,  and 
threes,  and  fives,  and  sevens,  and  twelves,  and  twen- 


126  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

ties.    The  ancient  Hebrews  employed  two  or  more 
of  these  scales. 

The  Hebrews  and  Greeks  as  well  as  the  Romans 
used  letters  of  the  alphabet  instead  of  figures  for 
counting  and  calculations.  The  system  of  notation 
as  we  now  have  it  was  of  gradual  development.  Un- 
der Theoderic  the  Great  (454-526  A.  D.),  Boethius 
made  use  of  certain  marks  or  signs  which  were  in 
part  similar  to  our  nine  digits.  This  was  improved 
upon  by  a  pupil  of  Gerbeet,  who  used  signs  still  more 
like  our  nine  digits.  But  all  methods  of  notation 
preceding  the  Arabic  were  unwieldly,  complex,  and 
incomplete.  The  system  did  not  originate  with  the 
Arabs.  As  the  Arabs  had  appropriated  the  Chinese 
discovery  and  use  of  paper,  so  they  appropriated  the 
Hindu  system  of  notation.  The  system  at  first  was 
without  a  zero:  that  character  was  added  probably 
in  the  seventh  century.  The  decimal  character  was 
used  to  give  positional  or  place  value  to  the  nine 
digits, — the  cipher  having  no  value  except  in  com- 
bination with  the  digits;  it  thus  completed  the  sys- 
tem of  notation. 


XVI 

SOURCES  OF  THE  BOOK-MAKING  INDUSTRY 

THE  making  of  books  and  the  depositories  of 
them  prior  to  the  invention  of  printing,  and 
especially  during  the  Middle  Ages  or  from  the  fifth 
century  to  the  fifteenth,  inclusive,  are  matters  of  all 
but  romantic  interest.  In  the  very  early  times  and 
in  all  the  principal  cities  of  Greece  and  her  colonies 
there  were  professional  scribes  who  engaged  in  the 
business  of  copying  and  caring  for  books,  the  same 
as  we  now  have  our  professional  "book-keepers" 
(though  with  a  different  application)  and  our  print- 
ers and  librarians.  This  was  peculiarly  the  condi- 
tion in  the  later  Grecian  and  the  earlier  Roman 
times.  The  accredited — though  almost  incredible — 
number  of  volumes  in  some  of  the  ancient  libraries, 
as  at  that  of  Alexandria — notwithstanding  the  slow 
and  laborious  process  of  their  making,  when  every 
book  made  was  a  separate  production — is  proof 
positive  of  the  extent  of  this  industry.  It  was  equally 
true  of  the  very  early  times — of  the  times  of  ancient 
Assyria.  That  scribes,  giving  their  whole  attention 
to  the  production  of  their  books,  were  very  numerous 
in  the  period  of  the  cuneiform  writings  is  inferred 
from  the  immense  quantity  of  their  writings  con- 

127 


128  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

tained  in  the  great  libraries,  and  from  the  fact  that 
in  some  periods  almost  every  document  is  found  to 
have  been  written  by  a  different  scribe.  Women  are 
known  to  have  been  employed  as  scribes.1 

The  treasures  of  learning  and  letters,  preserved 
from  the  pre-Christian  times,  as  at  Samos,  Athens, 
Megara,  and  Pergamos,  quickly  found  their  way  (in 
the  early  centuries  of  our  Era)  from  Greece,  the 
fountain  source  of  books  and  culture,  into  all  those 
parts  of  the  world  with  which  she  was  brought  into 
commercial  relations  and  whither  the  conquests  of 
Alexander  had  already  carried  the  Greek  culture  and 
literature.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  to  the  cities 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Euxine  there  was  a 
constant  flow  of  books;  and,  in  many  of  them,  ex- 
tensive libraries  were  collected  and  treasured.  At  a 
later  time,  when  the  making  of  books  had  greatly 
declined  in  consequence  of  the  enveloping  cloud  of 
ignorance,  the  monks,  dignitaries  of  the  Church  and 
even  princes,  brought  a  steadfast  devotion  to  the 
copying  of  the  religious  books — especially  the  Bible 
— though  not  neglecting  the  classic  literature.  No- 
ble Christian  ladies,  too,  shared  in  this  copying  of  the 
Bible  as  a  form  of  ascetic  work  providing,  as  they 
believed,  heavenly  merit  and  the  means  of  subsis- 
tence. A  Christian  sometimes  copied  for  himself  a 
gospel  or  some  letters  of  evangelists,  or  even  one  or 
more  books  of  the  Old  Testament;  and  we  are  told 
that  wealthy  Christians  sometimes  helped  their 

National  Geographic  Magazine,  Vol.  XXIX,  p.  167. 


Sources  of  the  Book-Making  Industry       129 

poorer  brethren  by  providing  them  with  copies. 

The  production  of  books  was  mostly  but  not 
wholly  confined  to  the  early  centuries  of  the  Chris- 
tian Era;  it  certainly  did  not  extend  to  any  consider- 
able degree  beyond  the  fifth  century.  It  is  within 
the  historical  facts  to  say  that,  from  the  fifth  cen- 
tury on,  inclusively,  throughout  the  "Dark  Ages"  or 
for  nearly  a  thousand  years,  the  business  of  making 
books  greatly  declined,  and  was  limited  largely  to 
books  which  persons  of  rank,  literary  taste,  or  re- 
ligious devotion,  themselves  copied  for  personal  use 
or  gratification,  and  to  books  copied  in  the  religious 
houses.  Persons  of  wealth  or  position,  too,  would 
sometimes  employ  copyists  or  men  of  sedentary 
habits  or  scholarly  tastes,  and  even  their  slaves  who 
were  fitted  for  this  occupation,  to  transcribe  such 
books  as  could  be  secured  for  the  purpose.  (A  slave 
of  this  period  was  often  not  the  dull  and  degraded 
bondman  which  we  are  accustomed  to  associate  with 
the  designation  "slave"  but  he  might  be  a  man  in  all 
ways  superior  to  his  master.)  Among  the  copyists 
of  the  times  were  educated  persons  who,  by  reason 
of  the  misfortunes  of  war,  the  handicaps  of  fate,  or 
the  hard  contingencies  of  life — such  as  the  loss  of 
possessions  or  the  reverses  of  fortune — had  fallen 
into  a  subject  condition  of  servitude  and  were  em- 
ployed by  their  masters  as  secretaries,  scribes,  and 
even  as  personal  advisers  and  trusted  friends.  Ori- 
gin, perhaps  the  greatest  Bible  scholar  of  the  ancient 
Church,  is  said  to  have  been  supported  by  a  rich 


130  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

admirer  who  put  a  number  of  slave  copyists  at  his 
disposal.  These  copyists  were  sometimes  employed 
to  further  the  commercial  enterprises  of  their  own- 
ers also;  for  books  generally  had  a  marketable  value 
— often  a  high  commercial  value — notwithstanding 
the  dearth  of  intelligence  and  decline  of  learning. 
There  were  times  when  the  possession  of  a  book, 
especially  the  Bible,  was  regarded  as  a  treasure- 
trove,  and  the  owning  of  a  book  by  whomsoever 
written  was  considered  a  fact  worthy  of  record  by  a 
biographer. 

So  also,  toward  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages 
when  smaller  libraries  had  been  established  in  ab- 
beys and  schools,  as  in  France  and  Spain,  manu- 
script books  were  borrowed  from  neighboring  li- 
braries and  copies  were  made  therefrom  to  increase 
many  local  collections.  It  was  a  custom,  further- 
more, in  wide  areas  for  libraries  rx>  exchange  dupli- 
cate copies  of  books  and  thus  the  extension  of  litera- 
ture went  on  even  in  the  "Dark  Ages,"  though  with 
a  fluctuating  progress.  More  than  this,  since  much 
of  the  literature  of  the  times  was  written  upon  the 
fragile  papyrus,  a  constant  renewal  of  books  was 
made  necessary  in  order  to  replenish,  maintain,  and 
enlarge  existing  libraries  and  private  collections. 
This,  in  the  later  days,  furnished  occupation  for  im- 
pecunious students  of  the  universities  as  well  as  for 
slaves,  professional  scribes,  and  occupants  of  the 
religious  houses. 

But  in  the  intellectual  torpor  that  abounded,  and 


Sources  of  the  Book-Making  Industry       131 

in  the  pall  of  almost  universal  ignorance  that  over- 
cast the  civilized  world — under  which  there  were 
princes  and  kings  who  could  not  even  read — it  is 
unreasonable  to  suppose,  notwithstanding  the  feeble 
intellectual  Bickerings  that  lingered,  that  there  was 
any  very  considerable  demand  for  literature  during 
a  long  period  of  time,  or  for  a  large  portion  of  the 
"Dark  Ages."  It  was  the  fact,  as  says  Hallam,  the 
historian  of  this  period,  that  ua  cloud  of  ignorance 
overspread  the  whole  face  of  the  Church,  hardly 
broken  by  a  few  glimmering  lights,  who  owe  much 
of  their  distinction  to  the  surrounding  darkness." 
And  he  portrays  at  length  the  gross  darkness  that 
enveloped  the  people,  both  clergy  and  laity.2  In 
an  age  when  scarcely  anybody  could  write  or  even 
read,  when  learning  had  well-nigh  disappeared  under 
the  pall  of  ignorance,  we  may  easily  believe  that 
books  were  neither  extensively  made  nor  highly 
valued.  To  again  quote  from  Hallam:  "If  it  be 
demanded  by  what  cause  it  happened  that  a  few 
sparks  of  ancient  learning  survived  throughout  this 
long  winter,  we  can  only  ascribe  their  preservation 
to  the  establishment  of  Christianity.  Religion  alone 
made  a  bridge,  as  it  were,  across  this  chaos  and  has 
linked  the  two  periods  of  ancient  and  modern  civil- 
ization." Similar  is  the  testimony  of  Mr.  George 
H.  Putnam:  uln  the  centuries  which  elapsed  be- 
tween the  downfall  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the 
invention  of  printing,  the  centers  of  intellectual  ac- 

*  Middle  Ages,  Vol.  II,  pp.  459,  463. 


132  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

tivities  and  of  scholarly  interests  were  undoubtedly 
the  churches  and  the  monasteries,  and  it  is  probable 
that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  educational  work  done 
by  the  priests  and  monks,  and  for  the  interest  taken 
by  them  (however  inadequately  and  ignorantly)  in 
the  literature  of  the  past,  the  fragments  of  this  litera- 
ture which  have  been  preserved  for  to-day  would 
have  been  much  less  considerable  and  more  frag- 
mentary than  they  are.  As  I  understand  history, 
the  literary  interests  of  the  world  owe  very  much  to 
the  fostering  care  given  to  them  by  the  Church,  or 
by  certain  portions  of  the  Church,  during  the 
troublous  centuries  of  the  early  Middle  Ages. 
Throughout  these  centuries  the  Church  not  only 
supplied  a  standard  of  morality,  but  kept  in  exist- 
ence whatever  intellectual  life  there  was."  3 

"Authors  and  Their  Public,  pp.  273,  274. 


XVII 

THE  LITERARY  PREEMINENCE  OF  ALEXANDRIA 

THE  fact  that,  for  hundreds  of  years,  Alexan- 
dria held  the  preeminence  as  the  center  and 
source  of  literary  achievement — down  to  the  cul- 
mination of  her  distinguishing  history  in  642  A.  D. 
— will  not  blind  our  eyes  to  the  recognition  of  the 
earlier  and  narrower  centers  and  sources  of  intel- 
lectual activity.  The  fact  must  not  be  overlooked 
that,  long  before  the  imperial  City  was  founded  at 
the  northern  extremity  of  Egypt  in  332  B.  C.,  there 
were  other  important  centers  of  learning  and  well- 
known  depositories  of  written  records. 

Perhaps  the  very  earliest  extensive  depository  of 
written  documents  of  any  character  which  have  sur- 
vived for  millenniums  of  years  was  at  ancient  Nip- 
pur, in  the  region  of  Babylon  and  between  the 
Euphrates  and  the  Tigris.  This  Nippur,  or  the 
modern  Nuffar,  is  spoken  of  in  the  old  Sumerian 
legends  as  the  oldest  city  of  the  earth,  and  the  influ- 
ence of  which  has  been  felt  by  all  classes  of  Baby- 
lonian peoples  for  fully  four  thousand  years. 
Through  explorations,  patiently  and  hazardously 
prosecuted — at  Nippur  and  elsewhere  in  Babylonia 
— a  long-forgotten  world  has  slowly  risen  from  its 

133 


134  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

sealed  entombment  for  multiplied  centuries  into 
resurrection  life  and  reality.  The  Babylonian  Ex- 
pedition, organized  and  equipped  for  the  purpose 
by  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  has  carried  on  a 
succession  of  expeditions,  with  some  interruptions, 
from  1889,  forward,  on  the  site  of  this  ancient  for- 
gotten city.  As  part  results  of  its  excavations,  there 
have  been  unearthed,  not  only  temple  walls  with 
their  contents  of  sarcophagi,  bas-relief,  vases,  play- 
things, weapons,  objects  and  ornaments  in  gold, 
silver,  bronze,  iron,  clay,  and  stone,  together  with 
human  bones,  but  also  more  than  32,000  cuneiform 
tablets.  These  tablets,  the  first-fruits  of  the  vast 
literary  deposits  of  this  ancient  city,  are  of  a  mani- 
fold character  and  consist  of  syllabaries,  letters, 
chronological  lists,  historical  fragments,  religious 
texts,  and  the  like.  The  tablets  already  examined 
indicate  the  probable  value  of  many  of  these  records 
from  that  far-off  age.  The  oldest  of  them,  accord- 
ing to  Professor  Hilprecht,  have  an  antiquity  of 
about  2800  years  B.  C., — one  particular  fragment, 
containing  a  part  of  the  deluge  story  more  ancient 
by  a  thousand  years  than  any  yet  found,  antedates 
Abraham's  leaving  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  full  two  hun- 
dred years.  The  story  as  inscribed  thereon,  being 
deciphered  by  Professor  Hilprecht,  not  only  tallies 
with  the  Bible  record  but  adds  minute  details  and 
clarifies  in  some  particulars  the  inspired  narrative 
contained  in  Genesis.1  The  newspapers  of  the  time 

1  Recent  Research  in  Bible  Lands,  pp.  45-63. 


The  Literary  Preeminence  of  Alexandria     135 

of  this  "find"  contain  this  account  of  the  difficulty 
in  the  way  of  the  tablet's  decipherment:  "Because 
of  its  long  period  in  the  earth  the  tablet  was  in- 
crusted  with  crystals  of  nitre,  which  filled  up  the 
characters  of  the  ancient  text.  Besides,  the  clay 
was  in  a  state  of  decomposition  and  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult to  handle  without  destroying  the  tablet  and 
losing  the  precious  writing  on  it.  For  weeks  Profes- 
sor Hilprecht  worked  several  hours  a  day  to  remove 
the  crystals  and  to  put  the  tablet  into  a  state  in  which 
it  could  be  deciphered.  Then  he  set  about  the  work 
of  translating  the  writing." 

The  chief  library  of  ancient  Assyria — and  the  one 
of  which  we  have  the  most  definite  knowledge — was 
that  of  Assnr-bani-pal  at  Nineveh.  This  distin- 
guished king  of  Assyria,  successor  of  Sargon,  Sen- 
nacherib, and  Esar-haddon,  and  the  conqueror  of 
Babylon,  greatly  enlarged  the  library  of  which  his 
predecessors  had  made  beginnings,  bringing  into  it 
the  plundered  books  of  Babylonia  and  otherwise 
greatly  developing  its  resources.  The  date  of  this 
library  at  Nineveh  is  fixed  at  about  670  B.  C.,  and 
is  accredited  to  have  contained  in  its  archives  more 
than  thirty  thousand  tablets  and  a  large  collection  of 
hexagonal  and  octagonal  cylinders,  seals,  and  other 
valuable  archaeological  treasures,  including  clay  sar- 
cophagi. Assur-bani-pal  sent  his  scribes  to  copy  the 
vocabularies  of  foreigners  wherever  accessible  and 
added  thus  to  the  treasures  of  his  library  by  the  ex- 
tensive transcription  of  tablets  and  cylinders.  Pro- 


136  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

fessor  Sayce  tells  us  that  ua  whole  army  of  scribes 
were  employed  in  it,  busily  engaged  in  writing  and 
editing  old  texts."  In  the  library,  too,  the  study  of 
the  Accadian  tongue  was  revived  and  the  language 
and  literature  of  the  primitive  progenitors  of  the 
Assyrio-Babylonians  was  written,  not  only  with  Baby- 
lonian translations  but  also  with  their  Assyrian 
equivalents.  Sir  Henry  Layard,  as  long  ago  as  in 
1850,  in  the  course  of  his  explorations  unearthed  on 
the  site  of  this  old  library  more  than  twenty  thou- 
sand clay  tablets,  which  were  brought,  later,  to  the 
British  Museum.  It  was  estimated  that  as  many 
more  tablets  remained  as  had  been  carried  away. 
These  tablets  vary  in  dimensions,  the  largest  measur- 
ing from  nine  inches  by  six  and  a  half  while  the 
smallest  in  some  cases  are  not  more  than  an  inch  long 
and  with  but  one  or  two  lines  of  writing  on  them. 
These  tablets  are  covered  over  with  cuneiform  char- 
acters. These  characters  are  so  small  on  some  of 
the  cylinders  and  tablets  that,  according  to  Professor 
George  Rawlinson,  five  or  six  lines  have  been  traced 
within  the  space  of  an  inch.  The  delicate  character 
of  the  writing  on  some  of  the  tablets  has  led  some 
of  the  archaeologists  to  conclude  that  the  inscriptions 
thereon  must  have  been  written  with  the  aid  of  a 
magnifying  glass; — indeed,  a  magnifying  lens  of 
crystal,  now  exhibited  in  the  British  Museum,  was 
found  on  the  site  of  this  library  at  Nineveh.  These 
tablets,  like  those  at  Nippur,  cover  a  wide  range  of 
subjects:  historical,  mythological,  linguistic,  mathe- 


The  Literary  Preeminence  of  Alexandria     137 

matical,  geographical,  and  astronomical. 

The  next  in  point  of  time  among  the  great  libraries 
of  the  ancient  world  was  that  at  Pergamos  in  Asia 
Minor.  Eumenes  II.  (197-159  B.  C.)  and  other 
kings  of  Pergamos  established  a  library  in  this  city 
of  ancient  Mysia  in  which  was  stored  a  vast  collec- 
tion of  manuscript  books,  approximating  200,000 
rolls,  written  on  papyrus  and  parchment.  This  li- 
brary at  Pergamos  flourished  for  a  period  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  or  from  its  establishment  on 
until  it  was  given  to  Cleopatra  by  Antony,  and  trans- 
ferred by  his  authority  to  Alexandria  in  order  to 
replace  one  of  the  libraries  which  was  said  to  have 
been  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  wars  of  Caesar;  and  so, 
thenceforward,  became  incorporated  in  the  Alexan- 
drian Library  and  shared  its  fateful  history. 

The  city  of  Alexandria,  located  on  the  delta  of 
the  Nile,  became — and  remained  for  centuries  both 
prior  to  and  after  the  Christian  Era  had  begun — 
preeminent  among  the  cities  of  the  age  we  are  con- 
sidering, as  a  literary  center  and  source  of  intel- 
lectual virility.  Grecian  literature  and  learning 
flourished  there  under  the  patronage  of  the  Ptol- 
emies; and  there,  under  Ptolemy  I.  (Ptolemy 
"Soter")  at  about  300  B.  C.,  was  begun  the  Alex- 
andrian Library  and  Museum,  the  largest,  most 
valuable,  and  the  most  renowned  of  all  ancient  li- 
braries. While  the  Alexandrian  Library  was  begun 
under  the  rule  of  Ptolemy  "Soter,"  a  general  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  it  was  during  the  reign  of  his 


138  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

son  and  successor,  Ptolemy  Philadelphia,  that  the 
Library  took  on  organized  proportions  and  greatly 
augmented  resources.  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  sent  to 
all  parts  of  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Asia  to  secure  the 
most  valuable  books;  no  exertions  nor  expense  were 
spared  to  enrich  and  enlarge  the  collection  in  the 
Library;  and  he  left,  it  is  said,  100,000  volumes 
therein.  Staffs  of  copyists  were  gathered  in  the 
Museum  and  search  was  continually  made  through- 
out Greece  and  Asia  Minor  for  copies  and  duplicates 
of  existing  rolls.  Extravagant  prices  were  paid  for 
books  by  the  librarians  (page  30)  and  thus  a  steady 
flow  of  literature  was  turned  toward  Alexandria 
from  all  parts  of  the  then  civilized  world.  The 
Library  further  grew,  during  the  Ptolemaic  Dynasty, 
and,  as  augmented  by  the  collection  of  books  from 
Pergamos,  to  the  vast  proportions  of  700,000  books 
(all,  of  course,  in  manuscript)  in  this  proud  Capital 
on  the  Nile. 

We  must  ever  bear  it  in  mind,  however,  while  con- 
sidering the  large  number  of  books  treasured  in  the 
Alexandrian  Library,  or  in  any  other  ancient  collec- 
tion, that  a  manuscript  roll — the  common  form  of 
most  ancient  books — was  generally  written  on  one 
side  of  the  parchment  or  papyrus  only  and  there- 
fore could  contain  at  most  only  one-half  the  amount 
of  matter  embraced  within  a  book  of  leaves  and 
pages. 

We  have  already  called  attention  (p.  62)  to  the 
change  in  literature  from  the  roll  book  to  the  book 


The  Literary  Preeminence  of  Alexandria     139 

of  leaves;  and  would  now  note  the  further  change 
in  the  roll-book  by  which  the  smaller  rolls,  con- 
venient for  handling,  were  substituted  for  the  enor- 
mous and  cumbrous  ones  often  encountered.  The 
bulkier  manuscript  rolls,  composed  as  they  were  of 
parchment  or  papyrus, — chiefly  of  papyrus  at  Alex- 
andria— sometimes  having  the  length  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet  or  even  longer,  came  to  be  divided 
into  smaller  rolls  as  making  up  a  given  large  work, 
— the  number  of  which  being  determined  by  the 
size  of  the  respective  works,  or,  somewhat,  as  in 
poetry,  by  the  character  of  the  composition.  The 
object  of  this  was  to  facilitate  handling  and  refer- 
ence, and,  incidentally,  the  preservation  of  the  manu- 
script;— the  opening  portions  of  the  roll,  as  also 
the  initial  pages  of  a  book  of  leaves,  being  most 
frequently  handled,  were  subjected  to  greatest  "wear 
and  tear."  Under  this  change,  the  History  of  Hero- 
dotus, e.  g.,  was  multiplied  into  nine  and  the  Iliad 
of  Homer  into  twenty-four  "books"  or  volumes; 
and  the  entire  Bible  which,  if  contained  in  one  roll 
would  prove  unwieldly  and  almost  incapable  of  use, 
would  require  thirty  or  forty  or  more  rolls.  The 
size  of  the  Medieval  Bibles,  when  made  up  in  a 
book  with  leaves  instead  of  the  roll  form,  was  im- 
mense. They  were  veritable  libraries  in  themselves 
— consisting  of  four  or  five,  in  one  instance  of  four- 
teen, great  folio  volumes.  The  Bible,  however,  be- 
ing written  by  many  different  authors  and  having  a 
great  diversity  of  themes,  would,  by  reason  of  this 


140  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

difference  in  authorship  and  subject-matter,  more 
readily  lend  itself  to  an  arrangement  into  separate 
rolls  or  books  than  many  of  the  early  classic  writ- 
ings. Indeed,  the  Bible,  while  it  is  THE  BOOK,  is, 
essentially,  a  large  collection  of  separate  books. 
Not  the  Bible  alone  but  other  large  works,  as  the 
Iliad  and  the  Odyssey,  notwithstanding  the  unity  and 
continuity  of  their  themes,  were  also  divided  into 
"books"  or  rolls,  and  these  were  numbered  or  named 
by  the  letters  of  the  Greek  alphabet: — "Iliad  A" 
would  designate  the  first  book  of  Homer's  Iliad, 
and  so  on  unto  the  end  of  the  composition.  This 
change  to  smaller  books,  and  thus  to  a  larger  num- 
ber of  separate  volumes,  came  about  or  was  facili- 
tated and  expedited  in  the  Library  at  Alexandria. 
One,  Callimachus,  the  grammarian,  seems  to  have 
been  greatly  instrumental  in  its  furtherance;  for,  as 
says  Mr.  Putnam,  "From  his  time  the  cumbrous 
scrolls  began  to  disappear,  and  as  well  for  the  edi- 
tions of  the  classics  as  for  the  literature  of  the  day, 
the  small  rolls  came  into  use." 

The  method  of  collecting  books  (as  well  as  the 
multiplication  of  smaller  rolls  from  a  single  larger 
roll  by  transcription)  tended  also  to  the  enlargement 
of  the  Alexandrian  Library.  We  are  informed  by 
tradition  that,  in  addition  to  the  purchase  of  rolls, 
the  books  taken  by  the  authorities  from  Greeks  and 
other  foreigners  coming  into  Egypt  were  sent  to  the 
Library  and  there  copied  by  the  scribes  in  its  em- 

1  Authors  and  Their  Public,  p.  142. 


The  Literary  Preeminence  of  Alexandria     141 

ploy.  The  copies  thus  made  were  delivered  to  the 
owners  of  the  books,  while  the  originals  from  which 
the  copies  were  made  were  deposited  in  the  Library. 
If  this  tradition  is  to  be  credited,  then,  how  abso- 
lutely beyond  estimate  was  the  importance  of  the 
Alexandrian  Library  as  the  chief  and  the  almost 
exclusive  depository  of  original  manuscripts  of  both 
sacred  and  classic  literature — and  for  a  long  period 
of  time.  And  if  this  was  the  fact,  then  it  is  highly 
probable  that  the  original  copies  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, or  of  books  thereof,  and  of  the  Old  Testament 
entire,  were  translated  into  the  Greek  during  this 
period  of  literary  activity  in  Alexandria  in  order  to 
meet  the  needs :  First,  of  the  Greek-speaking  Jews 
— later,  of  the  Greek-speaking  apostles  and  Chris- 
tian teachers  and  disciples;  and  that  these  books  were 
among  the  treasures  of  this  most  famous  Library  of 
the  ancient  world,  or,  indeed,  of  all  time.  On  the 
authority  of  Tertullian,  who  lived  in  the  first  quarter 
of  the  third  century,  and  of  Chrysostom,  who  lived 
in  the  last  half  of  the  fourth  century,  the  original 
Septuagint  Version  of  the  Old  Testament  scriptures 
—reputed  to  have  been  made  near  Alexandria  in 
the  third  century  B.  C. — and,  probably,  with  it  auto- 
graph copies  of  the  whole  or  parts  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment were  deposited  in  the  Library  at  Alexandria. 
[It  may  not  be  without  its  interest  while  referring 
to  the  large  number  of  books  treasured  in  the  Alex- 
andrian Library  to  mention,  parenthetically,  the 
number  of  volumes  contained  in  some  of  the  leading 


142  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

libraries  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  world: 

Johns  Hopkins  University 220,000 

The  University  of  California    240,000 

The  University  of  Michigan   252,000 

Princeton  University 260,000 

The  University  of  Pennsylvania 285,000 

Cornell  University 355»ooo 

Columbia  University    430,000 

The  University  of  Chicago 480,000 

New  York  State  Library  (Albany)  .  .  500,000 

Yale  University 550,000 

Harvard  University 800,000 

Boston  Public  Library,  about 1,000,000 

New  York  Consolidated  Libra rv, 

about i  ,400,000 

Library   of   United    States    Congress, 

about     i  ,800,000  3 

Strasburg  University,  France 700,000 

Royal  Library,  Berlin   1,000,000 

Imperial  Library,  Petrograd 1,500,000 

British  Museum,  London 2,000,000 

Bibliotheca  National,  Paris 3,000,000*] 

'Encyclopedia   Britannica    (Eleventh  Edition). 
*  World  Almanac, 


XVIII 

VARYING  FORTUNES  OF  THE  ALEXANDRIAN  LIBRARY 

THE  incomparable  Library  at  Alexandria  was 
exposed  to  the  same  vicissitudes  as  those  which 
beset  everything  mundane.  It  was  frequently  rifled 
and  portions  of  its  contents  were  often  destroyed 
through  disturbances  occurring  in  the  period  of  the 
Roman  domination,  but  it  was  as  frequently  replen- 
ished by  the  literary  activity  which  found  home  and 
harborage  in  Alexandria  for  hundreds  of  years  after 
the  Christian  Era  had  begun. 

Tradition  is  divided  both  as  to  the  time  and  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  Alexandrian  Library 
and  Museum,  viewed  as  one  institution,  came  to  its 
end.  The  tradition  which  gained  large  credence 
that  its  career  terminated  at  the  time  of  the  Saracen 
conquest  of  Alexandria  in  642  A.  D.,  and  under  the 
fanatical  frenzy  of  the  Caliph  Omar,  rests  upon  very 
questionable  authority.  The  oft-quoted  answer  of 
the  Saracen  Emperor  to  the  importunate  appeal  of 
the  Alexandrian  scholar  (Joannes  Grammaticus)  to 
spare  the  Library,  that,  "If  those  books  agreed  with 
the  Koran  they  were  useless;  if  they  did  not  agree 
with  the  Koran  they  were  pernicious;  in  either  case 
should  be  destroyed,'7  rests  mainly  on  the  evidence 

143 


144  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

of  a  stranger  who  lived  six  hundred  years  later,  is 
discredited  by  the  best  authorities,  and  is  "over- 
balanced/1 as  says  Gibbon,  "by  the  silence  of  the 
early  and  native  annalists."  Says  a  writer  in  the 
North  American  Review:  "It  may  have  been  de- 
stroyed during  the  great  riot  between  the  orthodox 
and  Arian  factions  in  389,  when  the  Serapeum,  which 
is  said  to  have  housed  it,  was  burned.  It  can  hardly 
have  had  the  wasting  fate  that  perhaps  befell  its 
Roman  rival,  and  it  is  certain  that  Omar's  icono- 
clasm  is  a  myth.  With  Gibbon's  judgment  modern 
historical  scholarship  concurs:  'The  solitary  report 
of  a  stranger  who  wrote  at  the  end  of  six  hundred 
years  in  the  confines  of  Media  is  overbalanced  by 
the  silence  of  two  annalists  of  a  more  early  date, 
both  Christians,  both  natives  of  Egypt,  and  the  most 
ancient  of  whom,  the  patriarch  Eutychius,  has  amply 
described  the  conquest  of  Alexandria.'  "  l  The  bet- 
ter conclusion,  therefore,  seems  to  be  that  there  was 
little  of  the  famous  Alexandrian  Library  in  existence 
at  the  time  of  the  Saracen  conquest  in  642  A.  D., 
owing  to  the  fact  of  its  earlier  demolition,  which  was 
begun,  at  least,  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Theo- 
dosius,  when,  under  the  Emperor's  permission,  Arch- 
bishop Theophilus,  at  the  close  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, led  fanatical  Christians  in  the  destruction  of 
heathen  temples — not  sparing  the  literary  treasures 
of  the  Library  which  had  been  associated  with  an 
antecedent  heathen  patronage. 

'June,   1914. 


Varying  Fortunes  of  the  Alexandrian  Library      145 

But,  whatever  the  agencies  of  destruction,  and 
whenever  it  was  consummated,  there  is  no  difference 
of  opinion  among  antiquarians,  historians,  and  men 
of  letters  as  to  the  world's  irreparable  loss  and  liter- 
ary impoverishment  when  this  far-famed  Library 
and  Museum  (wherein  had  been  gathered  and  treas- 
ured literature  from  Egypt,  Rome,  Greece,  and 
India, — with  its  extensive  departments  for  the  busi- 
ness of  transcribing  literature,  uand  with  every  pos- 
sible advantage  which  royal  munificence  on  the  one 
hand  and  learned  assiduity  on  the  other,  could  in- 
sure") was  destroyed;  and  the  literary  accumula- 
tions of  centuries,  including  the  immense  library  from 
Pergamos  and  inestimably  valuable  manuscripts  of 
the  Bible,  were  ruthlessly  and  irremediably  wasted. 


XIX 

CONSTANTINOPLE  THE   LATER   CENTER   OF 
LITERATURE 

OUR  gaze  is  now  transferred  from  Africa  to 
Europe.  As  Alexander  had  given  his  name  to 
the  City  on  the  delta  of  the  Nile,  so  Constantine  has 
given  his  to  the  City  on  the  Bosphorus.  Constanti- 
nople stood  as  the  capital  and  metropolis  of  the  East 
for  a  thousand  years,  or  from  329  A.  D.  (the  date 
at  which  he  removed  his  throne  thereunto)  on  until 
near  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the 
proud  City  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Mohammedans 
and  became  in  consequence  the  seat  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire.  When  Constantine  removed  the  capital  of 
the  Empire  from  the  West  he  took  many  elements 
of  intellectual  life  which  had  been  the  proud  boast 
of  the  City  of  Augustus  with  him  unto  Byzantium; 
and,  in  process  of  time,  the  pomp,  power,  and  learn- 
ing of  Rome  and  Alexandria  were  transferred  to 
Constantinople — supreme  in  beauty  and  convenience 
of  location.  Constantinople  seemed  to  occupy  for 
more  than  a  millennium  of  years  both  a  charming 
and  a  charmed  position.  While  Rome — for  cen- 
turies a  center  and  source  of  literature,  having,  after 
the  time  of  Augustus,  numerous  libraries — together 

146 


Constantinople  the  Later  Center  of  Literature      147 

with  the  capitols  of  provinces  and  countries  of  Eu- 
rope had  been  successively  occupied  by  contending 
armies,  Constantinople  had  remained  safe  in  her 
commanding  position  at  the  portal  of  two  continents 
and  had  continued  "unconquered  and  even  un- 
assailed."  At  the  fall  of  the  Capital  in  the  East, 
however,  Rome  became  again  the  head  of  the  Em- 
pire, and  its  imperial  Seat  was  transferred  from  the 
Bosphorus  to  the  Tiber. 

Under  the  favor  shown  by  Constantine  at  his  ac- 
cession to  the  ranks  of  the  Christian  faith,  whatever 
his  motive,  distinctively  Christian  literature  was 
given  an  honored  place  in  the  imperial  library;  and 
through  his  cooperation,  at  a  time  when  books  were 
relatively  scarce  and  difficult  to  obtain,  several  thou- 
sand volumes  were  collected.  This  collection,  made 
up  largely  it  is  claimed  of  Christian  literature,  was 
augmented  under  some  of  his  successors  to  the 
dimensions  of  a  hundred  thousand  volumes.  Fur- 
thermore, an  efficient  librarian  had  charge  of  these 
archives  and  directed  the  staff  of  copyists  which  were 
employed  therein  somewhat  as  had  been  the  distinc- 
tion of  the  Alexandrian  Library.  A  new  impulse 
was  added  in  collecting  and  copying  books  by  the 
personal  favor  of  the  Emperor — he  himself,  order- 
ing from  Eusebius,  the  church  historian  of  the  time, 
fifty  copies  of  the  Scriptures  to  be  written  on  "arti- 
ficially wrought  skins  by  skillful  calligraphists"  for 
the  use  of  the  churches  in  and  about  Constantinople. 
And  it  is  deemed  possible  and  even  not  improbable 


148  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

that  the  Sinaitic  manuscript — one  of  the  oldest  and 
best  of  existing  Greek  manuscripts — may  be  a  sur- 
vivor of  this  number.  The  library  at  Constantinople, 
like  all  libraries,  was  exposed  to  the  wastings  of 
time  and  change  but  was  replenished  and  renewed 
through  that  measure  of  intellectual  vitality  which 
survived  in  the  city  on  the  Bosphorus  for  a  millen- 
nium of  years. 

Besides  the  imperial  library,  the  churches  and  re- 
ligious houses  of  Constantinople  were  enriched  with 
collections  of  manuscripts  more  or  less  extensive. 
And  not  only  in  the  favored  City  but  in  the  regions 
adjacent — in  the  islands  of  the  ^gean,  on  Cyprus, 
and  in  many  other  quarters — manuscripts  were  col- 
lected, transcribed,  and  preserved.  (Isaac  Taylor.) 

Constantinople,  while  it  continued  to  be  the  center 
of  learning  and  literature,  was  by  no  means  the  ex- 
clusive center;  for  the  enterprise  of  collecting  and 
treasuring  books  was  widely  disseminated.  "No 
spot,"  says  Isaac  Taylor,  "was  more  famed  for  the 
production  of  books  than  Mount  Athos — the  lofty 
promontory  which  stretches  from  the  Macedonian 
coast  far  into  the  ^gean  Sea."  And  the  churches, 
too,  in  wide  areas,  became  depositories  of  books, 
especially  of  the  Bible  or  parts  thereof,  liturgical 
volumes,  and  works  of  devotion.  There  were  also 
church  libraries  at  Jerusalem,  at  Rome,  and  in  many 
other  localities.  One  at  Csesarea  is  said  to  have  con- 
tained, as  augmented  by  Eusebius,  the  historian, 
about  thirty  thousand  volumes.  Gradually  into  all 


Constantinople  the  Later  Center  of  Literature     149 

these  regions — into  Crete,  Italy,  western  Europe; 
and  even  into  the  British  Isles;  into  Palestine,  Ara- 
bia, and  northern  Africa — numerous  monasteries 
with  their  collections  of  books  were  established  and 
maintained.  These  religious  houses  were  every- 
where peopled  by  recluses,  among  whose  principal 
duties  was  the  care  for  and  the  transcription  of 
books. 

For  long  periods  of  time,  however,  and  univer- 
sally throughout  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
there  was,  as  has  already  been  noted,  a  great  decline 
in  learning  and  but  little  interest  in  books — the  ex- 
ception to  this  condition  being  almost  wholly  limited 
to  the  occupants  of  the  religious  institutions.  It  is 
the  record  of  history  that,  as  civilization  lost  its 
energy  in  wide  areas — especially  throughout  Gaul- 
intellectual  darkness  spread  over  all  the  country,  so 
much  so  that  there  was  hardly  a  layman  and  only  a 
few  among  the  clergy  who  could  even  read.  Mighty 
leaders  of  state  shared  in  this  intellectual  desuetude. 
Even  Charlemagne,  that  great  ruler  who  welded 
divergent  peoples  into  one  body  to  resist  Saracen 
and  savage,  and  who  did  much  to  institute  and  pro- 
mote educational  movements,  lived  and  died  with 
modicum  attainments  of  technical  learning.  It  is 
recorded  of  him  in  witness  of  his  meager  achieve- 
ments in  this  direction  that  "He  could  read  and 
understand  Latin — but  how  well,  perhaps,  we  had 
better  not  too  closely  inquire ;  he  tried  late  in  life  to 
learn  to  write,  but  his  progress  in  that  direction  did 


150  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

not  greatly  impress  his  biographer."  Macaulay  as- 
serts it  of  the  twelfth  century  that  "There  was  then, 
through  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  very  little 
knowledge,  and  that  little  was  confined  to  the  clergy. 
Not  one  man  in  five  hundred  could  have  spelled  his 
way  through  a  psalm.  Books  were  few  and  costly. 
The  art  of  printing  was  unknown." 

A  number  of  factors  and  forces  combined  to  keep 
alive  the  feeble  and  smouldering  sparks  of  learning 
amidst  the  wide-spread  intellectual  gloom  of  the  age. 
Early  and  prominent  among  these  was  the  establish- 
ment and  subsequent  development  of  the  abbeys  and 
cathedral  institutions  in  various  parts  of  the  conti- 
nent and  in  Britain.  Then  came  the  founding  of  the 
Benedictines  (which  flourished  from  the  sixth  cen- 
tury on,  spreading  from  Italy  westward  into  France 
and  England  and  in  other  directions,  and  gathering 
unnumbered  devotees — under  the  threefold  vow  of 
poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience — into  thousands  of 
establishments)  together  with  the  various  Orders 
that  arose  from  the  tenth  century  on — in  all  of  which 
there  were  greater  or  lesser  attempts  at  study,  learn- 
ing, and  literature,  along  with  their  other  and  more 
distinguishing  ideals.  [The  orders  and  the  dates  of 
their  respective  beginnings  were  as  follows:  Carthu- 
sians, 1084;  Cistercians,  1098;  Carmelites,  1156; 
Dominicans,  1170-1221;  Franciscans,  1209-1226. 
"The  two  orders,"  Franciscans  and  Dominicans,  says 
Thatcher,  "furnished  all  the  great  scholars  of  the 
later  Middle  Ages."]  And  toward  the  close  of  the 


Constantinople  the  Later  Center  of  Literature      151 

"Dark  Ages"  the  movement  toward  enlightenment, 
known  as  the  Renaissance,  was  accelerated  in  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  great  universities,  the  roots  of  which 
run  down  into  the  soil  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
Prominent  among  the  great  universities  that  date  to 
the  thirteenth  century  and  which  were  located  in 
widely  separated  regions  and  among  divergent  peo- 
ples, in  England,  Italy,  Spain,  France,  Germany,  and 
the  North,  were  those  at  Cambridge,  Oxford, 
Naples,  Salamanca,  Lisbon,  Paris,  Orleans,  and 
Upsal.  In  all  these  there  were  nascent  movements 
in  the  direction  of  literature  manifested  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  libraries  as  well  as  in  the  development  of 
learning. 

As  indicating  the  extent  and  the  importance  of  the 
specific  movement  toward  the  establishment  of  li- 
braries, promoting  thus  the  revival  of  learning  after 
the  long  night  of  the  "Dark  Ages,"  we  desire  to  con- 
dense the  following  paragraph  from  a  recent  and 
valuable  work:  A  number  of  libraries  were  estab- 
lished in  Paris  and  were  available,  not  only  for  pro- 
fessors, scholars,  and  students  of  the  schools,  but 
for  those  interested  in  books  and  literature  and  duly 
accredited  strangers  who  came  from  elsewhere  and 
who  would  accept  the  easy  conditions  of  the  libraries' 
protected  use.  There  were  libraries  also  connected 
with  the  numerous  abbeys  of  these  and  of  previous 
and  subsequent  times.  A  score  or  more  of  these 
abbeys  came,  in  time,  to  be  located  in  England,  as 
those  at  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow — places  forever 


152  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

distinguished  for  the  life  labors  of  the  Venerable 
Bede — in  a  dozen  of  which  there  were  fine  libraries 
with  large  writing  rooms  wherein  books  were  con- 
stantly copied  and  treasured.  In  France  important 
collections  of  books  were  to  be  found  at  Cluny  and 
in  many  other  abbeys.  The  number  of  books  in  all 
these  libraries  was  constantly  enlarged  and  the  li- 
braries enriched  from  various  sources:  By  the  ex- 
change of  duplicate  books  with  other  libraries;  by 
borrowing  from  neighboring  libraries  for  the  pur- 
pose of  copying;  and  by  donations  of  books  from 
private  sources  and  individual  donors.  As  an  ex- 
ample of  this  last  mentioned  source  of  increase  and 
enrichment,  the  library  of  La  St.  Chapelle  of  Paris, 
founded  by  Louis  IX.,  was  constantly  augmented  by 
his  donations  of  the  books  that  had  been  given  to 
him  and  which  he  passed  on  for  the  advantage  of 
the  library's  patrons.  Moreover,  the  constant  "wear 
and  tear"  of  books  even  when  written  on  parchment 
or  vellum,  and  notwithstanding  the  stringent  regula- 
tions safeguarding  their  use  to  legitimate  channels, 
constantly  called  for  the  re-writing  of  worn-out  vol- 
umes that  were  passed  along  from  one  generation  to 
another.1 

The  Arabian  conquests,  too — notwithstanding  the 
sore  disasters  which  they  at  first  seemed  to  threaten 
—turned    rather,    through    the    caliphs7    subsequent 
patronage  of  learning  and  science,  to  the  preserva- 
tion and  extension  of  literature.     The  Greek  manu- 

1  The  Thirteenth  Greatest  of  Centuries,  Chapter  IX. 


Constantinople  the  Later  Center  of  Literature      153 

scripts  came  to  be  eagerly  sought  for  by  the  Arabians 
and  were  translated  into  their  own  language.  Col- 
leges, schools,  and  libraries,  in  numerous  places,  were 
the  tangible  and  assuring  tokens  of  the  subsequent 
favor  of  the  Arabians  toward  literature.  Bagdad 
in  the  far  East  and  Cordova  in  the  far  West,  with 
Cairo  and  Tripoli  lying  between,  became  seats  of 
rich  developments  of  science  and  letters  and  the  de- 
positories of  books  during  the  age  when  Europe  was 
deeply  enshrouded  in  intellectual  darkness." 

*  Encyclopedia  Britannica   (Eleventh  Edition). 


XX 

MONASTERIES    AND    THE    MONASTIC    INSTITUTION 

THE  roots  of  the  great  monastic  movement 
which  continued  for  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
Middle  Ages  run  well  back  into  the  early  Christian 
centuries.  While  the  beginnings  of  Monasticism  are 
involved  in  uncertainty  they  probably  sprang  from 
exaggerated  tendencies  on  the  part  of  individuals, 
toward  lives  of  privation,  hardship,  and  exposure, 
of  which  there  were  early  numerous  examples  and 
conspicuous  manifestations.  These  travesties  upon 
devout  character  and  mere  abnormalities  of  religious 
devotion  were  not  true  products  of  Christian  senti- 
ment and  ideals  but  glaring  manifestations  of  morbid 
self-assertion.  This  movement  was  not  contermi- 
nous nor  contemporaneous  with  the  development  of 
Christianity;  it  existed  apart  from  and  prior  to 
Christianity.  There  were  tendencies  and  examples 
in  the  direction  here  indicated  among  the  Jewish 
teachers;  and  it  had  a  large  embodiment  in  the  an- 
cient Buddhist  as  in  the  modern  Indian  systems.  The 
central  idea  of  the  early  ascetics,  ever,  was  that  the 
body  is  a  clog  and  hindrance  to  the  spirit  of  man, 
and  hence  the  assumption  of  merit  in  and  through 
the  practice  of  severe  austerities  and  rigid  self-abne- 

154 


Monasteries  and  the  Monastic  Institution      155 

gation.  There  were  many  gross,  horrible,  and  idiotic 
applications  of  this  practice  in  the  early  stages  of 
Christian  history  as  there  are  in  India  to-day.  The 
period  of  its  chief  ascendency  was  in  the  third  and 
fourth  centuries. 

The  monastic  movement  spread  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury into  the  extreme  West.  "Many  of  the  islands 
around  Ireland  and  Scotland,"  says  Professor 
Thatcher,  "were  occupied  by  the  monks,  a  large 
number  of  whom  were  hermits.  Many  monasteries 
were  established.  The  movement  became  immensely 
popular,  and  within  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  there 
were  hundreds  of  monasteries  in  the  West  and  thou- 
sands of  monks  in  them."  x  The  order  of  Benedic- 
tines (founded  by  Benedict  of  Nursia  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixth  century)  ran  its  course  and  flour- 
ished for  centuries.  The  order  of  Benedictines  was 
followed  (not  superseded)  by  a  succession  of  orders 
modeled  somewhat  after  their  earlier  precurser. 
This  movement  extended  its  existence  and  its  influ- 
ence also  far  into  the  East  as  well  as  to  the  westward. 
Syria,  Palestine,  and  Arabia — especially  in  the  region 
of  Mt.  Sinai — were  thickly  studded  with  monasteries 
and  "literally  swarmed  with  recluses."  Jerome,  who 
lived  well  into  the  first  quarter  of  the  fifth  century 
(died  420  A.  D.),  wrote  at  Bethlehem,  Palestine, 
"We  daily  receive  monks  from  India,  and  Persia, 
and  Ethiopia." 

The  monasteries,  so  widely  established  during  the 

1  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  pp.  325,  326. 


156  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

period  we  are  considering,  became  the  schools  and 
training-houses  for  the  clergy — the  only  schools  for 
a  long  period  of  time.  And  we  are  told  that  the 
rulers  in  the  West  encouraged  the  monasteries  to 
open  schools  for  boys  in  connection  with  their 
houses.  The  schools  of  this  period,  to  be  sure,  would 
not  compare  with  those  of  modern  times,  but  they 
were  the  best  available — in  fact,  the  only  schools; 
and  they  were  not  circumscribed  to  religious  instruc- 
tion. The  testimony  of  Professor  Dobschiitz  is 
that,  "All  the  great  fathers  of  the  church  insisted 
upon  classical  training;  so  did  Jerome  himself  and 
Saint  Augustine,  not  to  speak  of  the  great  classical 
scholars  in  Christian  bishoprics  in  the  East.  And 
even  in  the  later  centuries,  when  classical  civilisation 
had  gone  and  was  only  kept  up  artificially  by  assidu- 
ous reading,  it  was  the  church  which  maintained  the 
right  and  the  necessity  of  a  classical  training  for  the 
clergy.  .  .  .  There  was  a  time  when  there  was  no 
reading  at  all  outside  the  clergy  and  the  monasteries, 
but  this  reading  was  a  combination  of  classical  and 
Biblical.  That  is  the  great  merit  of  the  medieval 
church."  2 

The  value  and  the  extent  of  the  instruction  given 
in  these  schools  was,  for  the  most  part,  exceedingly 
limited,  in  both  range  and  research.  The  monas- 
teries were — and  continued  to  be,  for  long — of  far 
greater  significance  and  service,  no  doubt,  in  their 
relation  to  literature — to  its  preservation  and  also 

'The  Influence  of  the  Bible,  Etc,  pp.  70,  71. 


Monasteries  and  the  Monastic  Institution      157 

its  dissemination — than  they  were  as  seats  and 
sources  of  learning.  "If  there  had  not  been  great 
abbeys  where  schools  of  grammar  were  established, 
and  where  as  many  books  as  possible  were  jealously 
preserved,  perhaps  not  one  Latin  writer  would  have 
come  down  to  us."  3  Most  of  the  monasteries,  es- 
pecially the  larger  ones,  were  provided  with  a 
"scriptorium"  or  a  writing-room,  where  the  monks 
with  an  inclination  to  literature  and  those  also  who 
were  skillful  with  the  pen  were  required,  in  the  cus- 
tom of  most  monasteries,  to  devote  a  proportion  of 
every  day  to  the  employment  of  copying  books.  The 
large  majority  of  all  the  scribes,  throughout  this 
entire  period  of  a  thousand  years,  were  connected 
with  the  churches  or  the  monasteries.  By  their  em- 
ployment in  the  writing-room  worn-out  manuscripts 
were  replaced;  borrowed  books,  transcribed,  the 
copies  made  therefrom  being  retained  at  the  return 
of  the  borrowed  book;  and  thus  in  these  and  in  other 
ways,  gradually  an  increasing  number  of  books  found 
a  home  in  the  monasteries. 

In  the  business  of  transcribing  books,  as  often 
extensively  carried  on  in  many  monasteries,  several 
monks  would  sometimes  copy  manuscripts  at  the  dic- 
tation of  a  reader  and  thus  a  number  of  copies  would 
be  produced  at  the  same  time.  Each  copy  thus  pro- 
duced, however,  was  an  "individual"  and  not  a 
"manifold"  or  duplicate  of  the  others,  as  in  carbon 
copies  or  as  printed  from  a  type-plate.  Writing  at 

8  Medieval  Civilisation,  Edited  by  Munro  and  Sellery. 


158  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

the  dictation  of  another  was  an  ancient  custom.  It 
may  have  been  practiced  in  the  transcription  of  the 
cuneiform  tablets.  It  is  affirmed  that  Jeremiah,  the 
prophet,  thus  dictated  the  writing  to  his  faithful 
scribe,  "And  they  asked  Baruch,  saying,  How  didst 
thou  write  all  these  words  at  his  mouth?  Then 
Baruch  answered  them,  He  pronounced  all  these 
words  unto  me  with  his  mouth,  and  I  wrote  them 
with  ink  in  the  book."  (Jeremiah  36:17,  1 8.)  It  is 
possible,  or  perhaps  probable,  that  the  fifty  copies 
of  the  Scriptures  which  Constantine  is  said  to  have 
ordered  to  be  made  for  the  churches  in  and  about 
Constantinople,  may  all  have  been  produced  at  the 
dictation  of  a  single  reader.  In  that  event,  each 
respective  copy,  while  collectively  made  by  individual 
monks  in  the  scriptorium,  would  bear  its  own  dis- 
tinct individuality.  The  copies  thus  made  at  dicta- 
tion would  not  be  facsimiles  of  one  another  or  a 
proof  copy  of  the  original,  but  each  copy  would 
preserve  a  special  kinship  to  all  the  other  copies 
made  under  the  same  general  conditions.  And  this 
is  an  important  consideration  in  textual  criticism— 
especially  in  tracing  "family"  likeness  of  certain 
manuscripts.  And  so,  no  doubt,  from  the  scriptoria 
of  the  monasteries  came  the  books,  or  many  of  them, 
with  which  the  provincial  mansions  of  the  nobility 
and  the  private  and  public  libraries  were  supplied. 
These  manuscripts,  made  by  the  monks,  were  after- 
wards collected  (or  many  of  them  were)  in  the 
libraries  of  Rome,  Florence,  Venice,  Milan,  and 


Monasteries  and  the  Monastic  Institution      159 

elsewhere,  as  well  as  those  treasured  in  abbeys  and 
churches. 

The  monks,  who  were  the  principal  copyists  of  the 
times,  fostered  distinct  traditions  of  penmanship  that 
led  to  distinguishing  "hands"  (page  115).  They 
cultivated,  also,  not  only  the  science  and  art  of  pen- 
manship but  the  higher  art  of  embellishment  and 
illumination  of  manuscripts.  For  this  they  had  both 
the  time  and  the  inspiring  motive.  From  the  mon- 
asteries of  this  period  issued  some  of  the  finest  speci- 
mens of  the  book-making  industry  and  art  extant  in 
the  world.  In  speaking  of  the  illuminated  books  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  Dr.  Walsh  says  that,  "Con- 
sidering the  number  of  them  that  are  still  in  exist- 
ence to  this  day,  in  spite  of  the  accidents  of  fire,  and 
water,  and  war,  and  neglect,  and  carelessness,  and 
ignorance,  there  must  have  been  an  immense  number 
of  very  handsome  books  made  by  the  generations  of 
the  thirteenth  century."  And,  quoting  from  another 
author  concerning  a  special  manuscript  of  this 
period,  he  says,  "Every  page  is  sufficient  to  make  the 
fortune  of  the  modern  decorator  by  the  quaint  and 
unexpected  novelties  of  invention  which  it  displays 
at  every  turn  of  its  intricate  design."  4 

Allowing  as  we  must — from  the  evidence — that 
monasticism  possessed  many  inherent  weaknesses 
and  deficiencies,  such  as  these :  It  withdrew  many 
useful  forces  from  society;  it  developed  indifference 
for  the  family  and  the  family  life;  it  isolated  re- 

4  Thirteenth  Greatest  of  Centuries,  pp.  162,  163. 


160  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

ligion  from  relation  to  and  contact  with  the  world; 
it  nourished  and  incited  materialistic  aims  and  ideals 
under  the  garb  of  superior  sanctity;  it  prompted  and 
promoted  fanatical  zeal  for  part  truths  and  whole 
errors;  and  other  and  kindred  weaknesses  and  ex- 
cesses— and  yet,  with  due  recognition  of  its  limita- 
tions and  perversions,  its  crudities  and  idiosyncrasies, 
it  remains  true,  nevertheless,  that  monasticism,  as  a 
system,  made  many  and  important  contributions,  in 
various  directions  and  for  centuries,  to  the  good  of 
mankind,  and  furnished  the  most  important  link  in 
the  chain  of  events  which  perpetuated  learning  and 
literature  in  an  age  when,  except  for  so  extraordinary 
provision  and  guarantees,  they  must  inevitably  have 
perished.  The  monastic  institution  supplied,  in  a 
special  and  adequate  manner,  through  the  abbeys 
and  monastic  houses  in  which,  so  to  speak,  it  was 
domiciled,  a  safe  asylum  and  depository  for  the  word 
of  God.  The  common  isolation  of  these  establish- 
ments, together  with  the  reputed  sanctity  of  their 
occupants,  were  double  security  against  the  hand  of 
violence  and,  therefore,  a  double  means  of  preserva- 
tion for  the  literary  treasures — including  both  the 
Bible  and  classic  literature — made  and  treasured 
therein. 

But  these  affirmations  are  not  to  be  maintained  by 
reasoning  however  cogent  nor  by  logic  however  con- 
vincing but  by  evidence; — by  the  testimony  of  the 
historians  for  the  period  in  question.  The  witness 
of  competent  historians  is  summoned  in  their  cor- 


Monasteries  and  the  Monastic  Institution      161 

roboration.  Mr.  Lecky  declares:  "It  is  undoubted 
truth  that,  for  a  considerable  period,  almost  all  the 
knowledge  of  Europe  was  included  in  the  monas- 
teries, and  from  this  it  is  continually  inferred  that, 
had  these  institutions  not  existed,  knowledge  would 
have  been  absolutely  extinguished.  .  .  .  The  mon- 
asteries, as  corporations  of  peaceful  men  protected 
from  the  incursions  of  the  barbarians,  became  very 
naturally  the  reservoirs  to  which  the  streams  of  liter- 
ature flowed;  but  much  of  what  they  are  represented 
as  creating,  they  had  in  reality  only  attracted.  The 
inviolable  sanctity  which  they  secured  rendered  them 
invaluable  receptacles  of  ancient  learning  in  a  period 
of  anarchy  and  perpetual  war,  and  the  industry  of 
the  monks  in  transcribing,  probably  more  than 
counterbalanced  their  industry  in  effacing  the  classi- 
cal writings."  5  "It  is  certain,"  say  Munro  and  Sel- 
lery,  "that  we  are  indebted  for  the  preservation  of 
classical  literature  as  far  as  it  has  been  preserved, 
to  the  monks  above  all  others.  For  hundreds  ot 
years  they  truly  sheltered  and  preserved  the  treas- 
ures heaped  up  by  those  gone  before,  and  also  multi- 
plied them  through  copying.  ...  If  the  rules  of 
some  monastic  orders  forbade  the  reading  of  the 
pagan  authors,  the  rules  of  other  orders  not  only 
permitted  it,  but  made  it  an  express  obligation  to 
copy  manuscripts.  In  this  way  the  monks  of  the 
tenth,  the  eleventh,  and  the  twelfth  centuries  ren- 
dered services  to  civilization  which  will  never  be 

5  History  of  European  Morals,  2:  207,  208. 


1 62  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

forgotten.  .  .  .  With  the  foundation  of  the  mon- 
asteries by  the  missionaries,  learning  and  poetry 
made  their  entrance  into  Germany.  Many  of  the 
writings  of  this  early  time  are,  of  course,  lost  for- 
ever; but  enough  survives  to  enable  us  to  declare, 
with  certainty,  that  virtually  all  who  studied  and 
wrote  did  so  in  the  quiet  of  the  monastic  cells."  6 
Hallam  testifies:  "The  monasteries  were  subjected 
to  strict  rules  of  discipline,  and  held  out,  at  the  worst, 
more  opportunities  for  study  than  the  secular  clergy 
possessed,  and  fewer  for  worldly  dissipations.  But 
their  most  important  service  was  in  the  fact  that  they 
were  the  secure  repositories  for  books.  All  our 
manuscripts  have  been  preserved  in  this  manner,  and 
they  could  have  hardly  descended  to  us  by  any  other 
channel;  at  least  there  were  intervals  when  I  do  not 
conceive  that  any  royal  or  private  libraries  existed."  7 
"The  monks  were  also  the  civilizers,"  say  Thatcher 
and  Schwill.  "Every  monastery  founded  by  them 
became  a  center  of  life  and  learning,  and  hence  a 
light  to  the  surrounding  country.  They  cleared  the 
lands  and  brought  them  under  cultivation.  They 
were  farmers  and  taught  by  their  example  the  dig- 
nity of  labor  in  an  age  when  the  soldier  was  the 
world's  hero.  They  preserved  and  transmitted  much 
of  the  civilization  of  Rome  to  the  barbarians.  They 
were  the  teachers  of  the  West.  Literature  and  learn- 
ing found  a  refuge  with  them  in  times  of  violence."  8 

"Medieval  Civilisation,  pp.  282,   290,  330. 

7  Middle  Ages,  2  :  484. 

"Europe  in  the  Middle  Age,  p.  333. 


Monasteries  and  the  Monastic  Institution     163 

"The  monks  became  missionaries,"  declares  Myers, 
"and  it  was  largely  to  their  zeal  and  devotion  that 
the  Church  owed  her  speedy  and  signal  victory  over 
the  barbarians;  they  also  became  teachers,  and  under 
the  shelter  of  the  monasteries  established  schools 
which  were  the  nurseries  of  learning  during  the  Mid- 
dle Ages;  they  became  copyists,  and  with  great  care 
and  industry  gathered  and  multiplied  ancient  manu- 
scripts, and  thus  preserved  and  transmitted  to  the 
modern  world  much  classical  learning  and  literature 
that  would  otherwise  have  been  lost.  ...  In  a 
word,  these  retreats  were  the  inns,  the  asylums,  and 
the  hospitals,  as  well  as  the  schools  of  learning  and 
the  nurseries  of  religion  of  medieval  Europe." 9 
Speaking  of  the  monks'  contribution  to  civilization, 
Professor  Emerton  gives  this  estimate:  "They 
opened  up  vast  tracts  of  land  to  civilized  culture; 
they  helped  by  their  lives  of  self-denial  to  keep  in 
the  minds  of  men  a  standard  of  morals  somewhat 
higher  than  their  own;  they  furnished  a  safe  retreat 
where  the  spark  of  learning,  beaten  out  by  the  vio- 
lence of  the  time,  might  find  a  quiet  corner  in  which 
to  smoulder  at  first,  and  then  to  flicker  up  slowly  and 
feebly,  yet  steadily  into  a  brilliant  flame."  10  Similar 
is  the  witness  of  Professor  Harding:  "Each  mon- 
astery was  a  settlement  complete  in  itself,  surrounded 
by  a  wall ;  and  the  monks  were  not  allowed  to  wander 
at  will.  New  monasteries  were  often  located  on 

9  Medieval  and  Modern  History,  pp.  26,  27. 

10  Introduction  to  Study  of  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  144. 


164  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

waste  ground,  in  swamps,  and  in  dense  forests;  and 
by  reclaiming  such  lands  and  teaching  better  methods 
of  agriculture  the  monks  rendered  a  great  service  to 
society.  Schools  were  also  maintained  in  connection 
with  the  monasteries.  .  .  .  The  monks  were  en- 
couraged to  copy  and  read  books."  ll  Professor 
Duruy  claims  that  "the  Benedictines  added  agri- 
culture to  preaching,  and  copying  manuscripts  to 
prayer.  Schools  were  usually  annexed  to  their  con- 
vents, and  contributed  toward  the  saving  of  letters 
from  complete  ruin."  12  Says  another:  "Only  with 
the  revival  of  learning  did  literature  and  art  issue  out 
to  the  world  in  general;  and  then  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  the  manuscript  was  at  hand.  So,  before  the 
decline  of  monasticism  was  accomplished,  its  special 
work  as  the  exclusive  guardian  of  literature  was 
done;  and  the  secular  world  was  ready  to  take  into 
its  own  keeping  the  heritage  of  learning  which  the 
monks  had  been  so  largely  instrumental  in  handing 
down  to  it."  13  And  says  Mr.  Putnam:  "The  fall 
of  Constantinople  in  1453,"  (at  the  very  time  when 
Gutenberg  was  engaged  in  printing  the  first  book) 
"and  the  introduction  into  Europe  of  the  Turks,  was 
unquestionably  a  great  injury  to  Europe  and  to 
civilization,  and  the  destruction  of  the  collections  of 
manuscripts  existing  in  the  capital  itself  and  in  the 
monasteries  and  libraries  in  other  cities  of  the  Em- 

11  Medieval  and  Modern  History,  p.  87. 
"  History  of  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  288. 
"  Hastings'  Bible  Dictionary. 


Monasteries  and  the  Monastic  Institution     165 

pire,  was  an  irreparable  loss  for  literature.  For  the 
educational  interests  and  the  literary  development  of 
Europe  there  were,  however,  considerations  to  offset 
this  serious  disaster.  Great  as  was  the  destruction 
of  manuscripts,  a  number  were  preserved  by  indi- 
vidual scholars  and  in  the  hidden  recesses  of  certain 
convents  and  monasteries.  Many  of  these  were  at 
once  taken  to  Italy,  Germany,  and  France  by  the 
scholars  flying  from  the  barbarous  conquerors  of 
their  land,  and  the  works  were  thus  brought  to  the 
knowledge  and  made  available  for  the  use  of  Euro- 
pean students.  Others  were  secured  from  their  hid- 
ing places  years  after  the  capture  of  the  City,  by 
Greek  scholars  sent  back  for  the  purpose  on  behalf 
of  the  publishers  of  Italy  and  France,  or  of  the  uni- 
versities of  Bologna,  Padua,  and  Paris,  while  some 
few  valuable  parchments  were  hidden  so  safely  that 
they  have  been  forgotten  for  centuries  and  are  only 
to-day  being  brought  to  light  from  the  vaults  and 
attics  of  old  monasteries,  so  as  again  to  be  included 
in  literature  accessible  for  the  world."  14 

The  monasteries,  as  the  tangible  and  permanent 
accretion  of  monasticism,  then,  may  be  justly  re- 
garded as  the  centers  of  learning  and  sources  for 
the  making  of  books — and  by  the  slow  and  laborious 
process  of  hand-writing.  And  it  was  a  slow  and 
laborious  process  even  though  many  copies  were 
made  at  the  same  time  from  the  dictation  of  a  single 
reader.  The  monasteries  became  also  the  deposi- 

14  Authors  and  Their  Public,  pp.  292,  293. 


1 66  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

tories  wherein  the  Scriptures,  together  with  other 
literature,  including  often  the  classical  writings,  were 
preserved  from  destruction  which  the  vandal  hordes 
that  often  devastated  large  sections  of  Europe  occa- 
sioned. The  larger  ancient  libraries,  except  that  at 
Constantinople,  were  destroyed  through  the  fanati- 
cism and  ruthlessness  of  Saracen  and  savage,  as  these 
forces  swept  across  northern  Africa,  overran  Eu- 
rope, and  dominated  all  Bible  lands.  But  in  conse- 
quence of  the  previous  wide  diffusion  of  books  into 
the  monasteries  and  religious  houses  of  the  Roman 
Empire  and  beyond — in  fact,  into  all  parts  of  Europe 
and  western  Asia — the  destruction  by  vandal,  savage, 
and  Saracen  was  far  less  sweeping,  undoubtedly, 
than  these  successive  invasions  and  revolutions— 
these  changes  and  upheavals  in  society  and  govern- 
ment— would  otherwise  have  occasioned.  While 
cities  were  sacked  and  burned,  castles,  palaces, 
strongholds,  and  many  churches  were  pillaged  and 
overthrown,  and  whole  countries  were  laid  waste,  a 
measure  of  immunity  from  attack  was  accorded  to 
these  religious  houses — the  homes  of  the  monks  and 
the  Orders. 

This  immunity  from  attack,  secured  by  the  mon- 
asteries, was  due  often,  and  perhaps  chiefly,  to  the 
fact  of  their  secluded  situations  and  to  the  strong 
defenses  of  resisting  masonry  which  made  subjection 
and  pillage  difficult  and  profitless.  The  convent  of 
St.  Catharine,  where  Dr.  Tischendorf  discovered  the 
peerless  Sinaitic  Manuscript  of  the  Bible  in  1859,  is 


Monasteries  and  the  Monastic  Institution     167 

an  example  and  illustration.  This  monastery  was 
perched,  as  it  were,  on  the  precipitous  slopes  of  Mt. 
Sinai  at  an  altitude  of  full  5,000  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea ;  and,  until  recently,  the  only  manner  of 
access  beyond  its  solid,  massive,  and  centuries-old 
masonry,  was  by  means  of  a  crude  and  primitive 
"lift"  consisting  of  a  chair  and  rope,  controlled  by 
the  inmates  and  operated  by  a  windlass  and  drum 
within  and  above.  By  this  appliance  all  visitors  were 
"elevated"  some  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet  from  its 
base  to  the  main  entrance  of  the  monastery.  This 
arrangement  safeguarded  the  occupants  and  the  con- 
tents of  this  religious  stronghold  from  risk  of  rob- 
bery and  violence.  These  religious  houses  furnished 
even  greater  security  by  their  position  and  isolation 
and  were  generally  respected  by  the  fiercest  invaders. 
The  safety  of  the  monks — of  peaceful  occupation 
and  mien — and  of  their  possessions — almost  wholly 
literary,  even  in  the  periods  of  disorder  and  violence 
—was  often  due  to  the  supposed  sacredness  of  the 
roofs  under  which  they  were  sheltered.  And  even 
when  these  asylums  were  not  respected  but  seized 
and  plundered,  the  books  which  they  treasured  had 
little  or  no  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  ignorant  and 
hostile  invaders,  or  were  hidden  away  in  recesses 
of  the  monasteries  beyond  the  reach  of  prying  eyes. 
And  even  when  the  manuscripts  of  a  single  mon- 
astery, or  the  monasteries  of  a  given  region,  were 
all  destroyed,  untold  numbers  of  copies — and  largely 
duplicate  copies — by  reason  of  their  previous  exten- 


1 68  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

sive  dispersion  throughout  wide  areas  and  secluded 
regions,  were  preserved  elsewhere  to  be  again 
brought  to  light  in  more  favored  times,  and,  finally, 
at  the  revival  of  learning,  which  awaited  the  coming 
of  the  printing-press. 

The  thirteenth  century  has  been  called  uthe  great- 
est of  centuries,"  and,  mainly,  because  it  was  the  be- 
ginning period  of  emergence  from  the  'Dark  Ages' 
and  because  the  hearts  of  men  were  beginning  to  be 
thrilled  with  the  anticipatory  birth-throes  of  the 
coming  revival  of  letters.  "There  is,"  says  Goldwin 
Smith,  uno  more  romantic  period  in  the  history  of 
the  human  intellect  than  the  thirteenth  century." 
The  Italian  renaissance  in  the  fourteenth  century 
brought  a  deepening  interest  for  the  old  Latin  writ- 
ings, and  this,  in  turn,  revived  attention  to  the  Greek 
classics — the  fountain-head  of  the  world's  pagan 
literature.  The  awakening  concern  for  classic  litera- 
ture led  the  Humanists  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries  to  ransack  the  libraries  of  the  monasteries 
and  religious  houses  in  even  out-of-the-way  places  of 
Europe  for  all  kinds  of  old  manuscripts.  Statesmen 
as  well  as  students  gave  themselves  up  to  the  recover- 
ing of  the  literary  and  art  treasures  of  Greece  and 
Rome.  The  Greek  empire,  the  Levant,  and  all 
western  Europe  were  ransacked  in  every  nook  and 
corner;  and  the  treasures  of  the  Indies  and  the 
libraries  of  the  Levant  were  bought,  says  one,  "with 
impartial  interest  and  equal  delight." 

This  was  a  new  and  more  fruitful  kind  of  crusade, 


Monasteries  and  the  Monastic  Institution     169 

of  which  Symonds  declares,  "As  the  Franks  deemed 
themselves  thrice  blessed  if  they  returned  with  relics 
from  Jerusalem,  so  these  new  Knights  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  seeking  not  the  sepulchre  of  a  risen  Lord, 
but  the  tomb  wherein  the  genius  of  the  ancient  world 
awaited  resurrection,  felt  holy  transport  when  a 
brown,  begrimed  and  crabbed  scrap  of  some  Greek 
or  Latin  author  rewarded  their  patient  search." 
And  of  Petrarch,  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  search- 
ers for  these  ancient  writings,  Myers  says:  "He 
made  many  a  long  and  wearisome  journey,  with  the 
object  of  collecting  manuscripts.  The  precious  docu- 
ments were  found  covered  with  mold  in  damp  cel- 
lars, or  loaded  with  dust  in  the  attics  of  monasteries. 
This  late  search  for  these  remains  of  classical  authors 
saved  to  the  world  hundreds  of  valuable  manuscripts 
which,  a  little  longer  neglected,  would  have  been  lost 
forever."  And  he  says,  further,  "Libraries  were 
founded  where  the  new  treasures  might  be  stored, 
and  copies  of  the  manuscripts  were  made  and  dis- 
tributed among  all  who  could  appreciate  them."  10 
For  it  was  a  specific  outgrowth  of  these  new  intel- 
lectual and  literary  impulses  which  heralded  the 
passing  of  the  "Dark  Ages"  that  came  the  beginnings 
of  the  Vatican  Library  at  Rome.  This  renowned 
library  was  established  by  Pope  Nicholas  V.  at  about 
the  same  date  as  the  invention  of  printing  and  con- 
curred with  that  invention  to  make  effective  for  all 
time  to  come  the  revival  of  learning  and  of  letters. 

13  Medieval  and  Modern  History,  p.  270. 


170  The  Reign  of  the  Manuscript 

We  have  come  back  from  our  far-journeying  to 
our  starting  point,  the  invention  of  printing,  and  per- 
haps cannot  more  fitly  conclude  this  discussion  than 
in  the  words  of  Lord  Macaulay  in  his  tribute  to  that 
great  patron  of  learning  after  the  uDark  Ages/' 
Pope  Nicholas  V. :  uBy  him  was  founded  the  Vatican 
Library,  then  and  long  after,  the  most  precious  and 
the  most  extensive  collection  of  books  in  the  world. 
By  him,  were  carefully  preserved  the  most  valuable 
treasures  which  had  been  snatched  from  the  ruins  of 
the  Byzantine  Empire.  His  agents  were  to  be  found 
everywhere — in  the  bazaars  of  the  farthest  East,  in 
the  monasteries  of  the  farthest  West — purchasing  or 
copying  worm-eaten  parchments,  on  which  were 
traced  words  worthy  of  immortality." 


INDEX 


Ablavs — centers  of  monaituism. 
128,  155-157,  167.  (See  Monasti- 

An-adians — writing  and  literature 
•  «f,  99.  100;  language  of,  92,  136. 

"Art.  nits" — absent  in  early  Greek 
literature,  124. 

Achievements — two  conspicuous,  of 
last  century.  94,  98-104. 

Alphabetic  writing — origin  of,  91, 
104,  105,  110,  111;  occasion 
fur,  104-106;  earliest  document  in. 
110;  Phoenician  development,  105- 
107;  the  undeciphered  Cretan, 
100,  105.  106-108;  cosmopolitan. 
116. 

Alexandrian — manuscript          < 
64,     65;     number    of    columns    to 
page,    64,    65;    depository    of,    64; 
Library     and     Musi-urn.     I  J7,     137- 
141. 

:dria — strategic  location,  115, 
1.17;  literary  activity  of,  123,  127, 
133,  145. 

Antony — gift   of,    137. 

Arabia — paper  first  made  and  used 
in.  73;  monasteries  of,  149,  155; 
schools  and  literature  of,  152,  153, 
155. 

Arabs— brought  paper-making  into 
Spain,  73;  originafed  modern  sys- 
tem of  notation,  126. 

Architecture — characteristic  of  an 
age,  118. 

Asceticism — origin  and  develop- 
ment of,  154. 

'•nni-pal — ancient  king  of  As- 
syria, 135;  fostered  literature  and 
learning,  135,  136;  library  of,  135, 
136;  discoveries  by  Layard  on 
library  site,  136. 

Authorities    quoted,    cited,    and    re- 
ferred   to: 

Americana,   The,   74. 
Appleton's    New    Practical,    72. 
Author,  an  anonymous,   26. 
Baikie,    Mr.    James,    100. 
Bible,  The,  22,  33,  34,  43,  61,  62, 
80.  87,    109.   112,   121,   158. 


Authorities    quoted,    cited,    and    re- 
ferred to: 

Birt,    6S. 

op.  Wm.  Frost,  D.D.,  91,  110. 

Book    Record,   The.    32. 

Mrui-r.    1'rofessor  A.    B.,  41,  42. 

Budge,    Mr.    Wallace,    85,    97. 

Callimachus     (Grammarian),     140. 

Chambers'    Encyclopedia,    72. 

Champollion,    Professor,    98. 

Christ   in  the  Gospels,   29. 

Chrysostom,    141. 

Professor    Albert    T.,     100, 
102. 

Clodd.  Professor  Edward,  91. 
is,   59. 
raeli,    26. 

Dobbschiitz,       Professor       Ernest 
Von,   12,  25,  26,  38,  39,  5 
62,    63,    120,    156. 

Duruy,    Professor   Victor,    164. 

Kdwards.    Miss  Amelia    B.    (Egyp- 
tologist),   93. 

Emerton,    Professor,    163. 

Encyclopedia  Britannica  (Eleventh 
Edition),     12,    24,     75,    80,    84, 

105,  106,   108,  113,   142,  153. 
Eusebias       (Ecclesiastical       Histo- 
rian),   52,    147,    148. 

Euthalius,    124. 

Evans,    Dr.    A.   J.    (Antiquarian), 

106,  107,    108. 

Gibbon    (Historian),    37,    144. 
Grammaticus,    Joannes    (Scholar), 

143. 

Grotefend.    Dr.,    103. 
Guizot   (Historian),    18. 
Hallam   (Historian),   16,   131.   162. 
Harding,   Professor   S.   B.,    163. 
Harper,    Professor   Robert    F.,   80. 
Harkness,  Mr.   M.  E.,  93,  97. 
Hastings'    Bible    Dictionary,     164. 
Herodotus     (Ancient     Historian), 

59,    139. 

Hillis,    Newell    Dwight,    D.D.,    56. 
Hilprecht,    Professor    Herman    V., 

134,    135. 

Hugo    (Cardinal),    122. 
Huston,  Professor  C.  W.,  96. 


171 


172 


Index 


Authorities    quoted,    cited,    and    re- 
ferred to: 

Huxley,    Professor,    90. 

International  Standard  Bible  En- 
cyclopedia, 17,  21,  22,  25,  27, 
47.  48,  111. 

Jerome,    St.    (Scholar),    124.    155. 

Jewish   Encyclopedia,   51.   59,   112. 

Klein.    Dr.    (Traveler),    109. 

Layard,   Sir  Henry,   104,   136. 

Lecky,   Mr.   \V.   E.   H.,   161. 

Macaulay,    Lord,    150,    170. 

Mahaffy,  Professor  J.  P..  118,  119. 

Milligan,   Professor  George,   66. 

Munro  and  Sellery,  Professors, 
157,  161.  162. 

Myers,    Professor,    163,    169. 

nal      Geographic      Magazine, 

100,  102,    108,    128. 
Nelson's    Encyclopedia,    105. 
New  York  Daily.  54. 

NIC:  '  >pe),   169,   170. 

•••.  h  American  Review,   144. 
Petrarch    (Biographer),    169. 
IVtrie,   Professor,   79. 
>.    23.    31. 

69.    81.     . 

Press   dispatches,    57. 
Prescott    (Historian),    26,    78,   95. 
Prideau,   50.   66.    67. 
Puti:  .ret-    H..    11.    12. 

13.  30,    31,    68,    75. 

78,  103,  104.  131,  140,  164,  165. 
Rawlvi- •.!.  Pr.-fcssor  George.  136. 
Richardson.  Mr.  E.  C.,  21,  22,  25, 

27,   47,    48.    111. 
Robv:  Frederick  V 

Roget,   M.   Kmmanucl  De,  92. 
Sayce,    Profess.  27,    79, 

101.  106,    109.    Ill,    136. 
Smith,   Mr.    Goldwin.    168. 
Stephens,   Robert    (Printer).    122. 
Symonds,    Professor,    169. 
Taylor    (Canon).   104. 

Taylor.  Dr.  Isaac,  18.  71.  118.  148. 
Tertullian   (Church  Father),  141. 
Thalhcimer    (Historian).    74. 
Thatcher  and  Schwill,   Professors, 

150.  J55.    162. 

Tis<-licndorf,   Professor,  64.   166. 
Vincent.   Dr.   Marvin   R.,   38. 

•lessor,    151.    152,    159. 
World   Almanac,    142. 
Wright.    Professor  George   F..    40, 

Wycliffe.  John.  29.  30. 
Young.   Professor,   98,   99. 

Dahylonia — inscribed  temple  walls, 
100;  clay  tablets  of,  79,  134.  135, 
136;  ancient  syllabary  script  of, 
105. 

Babylonian — expedition,       134;      ex- 


ploraiinns  at  Nipi<ur,  134,  135; 
"deluge"  tablet,  134,  135. 

Benedictines-^founding  of  Order. 
150,  155;  civilizing  and  beneficent 
influences  of,  162,  164. 

Bible — a  divine-human  book,  40-45; 
for  man,  18,  40;  collective  volume, 
140;  versions,  38,  39;  preeminent 
of,  64,  65;  lost  autographs, 
4-4;  Septuagint  Version,  141;  dec- 
orated and  embellished  copies,  52- 
54,  159;  cost  of  making,  29-32; 
••rinted  ("Mazarin"),  14,  15; 
Revised  N.  T.,  28;  numerous  man- 
uscripts of,  37-39;  American  Bible 
Society,  32;  permanency  of,  18; 
chapters  and  verses,  122,  125. 

Book — definition  of,  19,  20;  evolu- 
tion, 20,  21;  form  of  ancient,  63; 
change  from  "roll"  to  "leaf" 
form,  63-64,  69;  "diptych."  "trip- 
tych." "polyptych,"  82;  "Book  of 
the  Dead?'  84,  85,  93;  size  of  roll- 
book,  68.  69,  139,  140. 

Books— earliest,  21,  22,  59;  valua- 
tion of.  14.  29-32,  130;  making 
and  commerce  of,  127-132;  "rein- 
forced" papyrus  and  paper,  69,  75; 
embellishment  of.  52-54;  cost  of 
v.  rittcn  and  printed  compared,  29- 
32;  enemies  of.  48;  materials,  44 
(see  chapter  XI);  rare,  52-54,  64, 
65;  depositories  of,  127,  128,  130- 
148.  149;  repairing,  49,  69, 
152;  new  crusade  for,  169. 

"Breathings"— of  the  Greek MSS,  124 

British  Museum — depository,  59,  64, 
136. 

Champollion — and  the  Rosetta  Stone, 
98. 

Charlemagne — referred  to,  149;  pa- 
tron of  schools  and  learning,  149; 
scarcity  of  books  at  his  time,  149, 
150;  meager  intellectual  attain- 
ments of,  149,  150. 

Chinese — inventors  of  printing,  11, 
12;  first  paper-makers,  72;  ideo- 
graphic writing  of,  105,  117;  an- 
cient library  of,  81. 

Churches — relation  to  learning,  131, 
132.  156;  libraries  in,  148. 

Cleopatra — name  on  Rosetta  Stone, 
99;  Antony  and,  137. 

Code — Hammurabi,  80,  110. 

"Colon" — punctuation  mark,   124. 

Columns— in  roll-book.  50,  61,  63, 
64.  and  age  of  MSS,  64,  65. 

"Comma" — punctuation  mark,  121, 124 

Constantine — founder  of  Constanti- 
nople, 146;  patron  of  Christianity, 
147;  furthered  the  Bible,  147,  148, 
158. 


Index 


173 


Constantinople — secure  and  favored 
position,  146,  147;  center  of  liter- 
ary and  religious  activity,  147-149, 
164. 

Copyists — professional,  69,"  127,  132, 
138,  140,  147,  149  (see  monks); 
women,  128;  other,  128-130,  138; 
wage  of,  29,  32,  54;  concern  for 
their  work,  49-52;  dictation  to, 
157,  158,  165;  rules  governing,  49- 
51;  repairing  MSS,  49,  69;  artistic 
accomplishments  of,  52-54;  para- 
phernalia of,  86,  88. 

m — Cretan     palace     of,      107; 
"finds"   in,    107,    108. 

Crete— recent  discoveries  in  ancient, 
100,  107,  108. 

Cuneiform — writing,  28,  99-104;  dis- 
tinguished from  hieroglyphic,  100; 
made  with  stylus,  102;  hierogly- 
phic, origin  of.  100;  great  quan- 
tity of  writing  in,  102,  104,  134- 
136;  discoveries  of  Layard,  104. 
136;  of  Rawlinson,  136;  diminu- 
tive specimens,  136;  Dr.  Grote- 
fcnd's  "guess,"  103;  how  read, 
102;  incorruptible  character  of, 
103,  104;  cylinders,  79;  "deluge" 
tablet,  134. 

"Dark  Ages" — extent,  127,  129;  de- 
cline of  learning  and  literature 
therein,  33,  129-132,  149-151; 
emergence  from,  150-152,  168,  169. 

"Demotic" — writing,  distinguished 
from  "hieratic,'r  70,  92,  98,  99; 
on  Kosetta  Stone,  99. 

"Diptych" — defined,   82. 

Ephraem — monk,  63 ;  Manuscript 
("C"),  63,  64,  65. 

"Ga't" — of  hand-writing,  55;  of 
mind,  57. 

Greece — fountain  source  of  litera- 
ture, 138. 

Grotefend  (Dr.) — and  cuneiform  in- 
scription, 103. 

Gutenberg — place  and  time  of  birth, 
12;  his  invention  and  its  signifi- 
cance, 12,  13;  first  printed  book, 
14.  15;  first  press,  13;  experimen- 
tations. 13,  14;  price  paid  for  one 
copy,  14;  first  edition  printed,  30. 

Hammurabi — code  of,  80;  inscription 
and  purpose  of,  80,  110. 

'•Hand"— importance  of,  47,  56,  57, 
159;  changes  in,  112-117;  provin- 
cial and  national  "hands,"  115- 

Handwriting— unwritten  literature, 
20,  27,  28;  the  two  great  stages  of 


the  classic,  113,  114;  slow  and  la- 
borious process  of,  27-29,  47;  two 
chief  desiderata  of  written  MSS, 
46,  47;  costly,  29-32. 

Hebrew — lar.guage  and  literature, 
109,  110,  122,  123. 

Herodotus — testimony  to  Persian  ar- 
chives, 59;  books  of,  139. 

"Hieratic" — writing,  defined,  92;  dis- 
tinguished from  "demotic,"  70,  98. 

Hieroglyphic — writing,  earliest  mode 
of  recording  ideas,  20,  21,  28,  70, 
91-99;  universal,  92,  107;  one  of 
the  trilingual  inscriptions,  98;  two 
classes  of,  94-97;  number  of,  97. 

Homer — writings  of  long  un-re- 
corded,  24;  "books"  of,  139,  140. 

"Ideographic" — writing,  defined,  94, 
95;  clumsy  and  imperfect,  97,  98; 
limitations  of,  illustrated,  97,  98; 
key  to  decipherment.  98,  99;  Cre- 
tan undcciphered,  107,  108. 

"India" — paper,  quality,  76,  77;  tests 
•:cngth  and  durability,  77;  re- 
markable productions  on,  76,  77; 
ink,  86. 

Inks — importance  and  necessity  of 
good,  47,  57,  83;  composition  of 
ancient,  83,  84;  lost  art,  86;  vari- 
ous kinds  and  colors,  84,  85,  86; 
uses  of  colored,  85;  millenni'.ims- 
old,  84;  tests  of  genuineness  of 
written  documents,  57;  printers', 
14;  "royal,"  86;  "India,''  86. 

"Interrogation"  (  ?) — punctuation 
mark,  124. 

Inventions — outgrowth  of  necessity, 
40,  60,  62;  in  printing,  11;  in 
paper,  72;  in  the  alphabet,  91,  92. 
106,  107;  improvement  and  prog- 
ress in,  16,  17,  62,  63;  in  punctu- 
ation, 120,  121,  123,  125;  improve- 
ment in  materials  and  arrangement 
of  books,  62,  69,  70,  72-77,  81,  32. 

Jews — devotion  to  sacred  books,  49; 
rules  governing  copyists,  49,  50, 
51;  Septuagint  Version  for,  141. 

Language — most  distinguishing  char- 
acteristic of  mankind,  90;  earliest 
decipherable,  108-111;  first  use  of 
alphabetic  writing,  105,  106;  the 
Gospel  in  many  languages,  34-38, 
41;  many  and  various  versions, 
38.  39.  ' 

Leather — earliest  material  of  port- 
able books,  59;  Hebrew  statutes 
written  on,  59;  age  of  skin-rolls, 
59;  royal  archives  of  Persia  on, 
59;  Yemanite  rolls,  59. 

Libraries — earliest  at  Nippur,  133- 
135;  contents  of  Nippur  tablets, 
134,  136;  "deluge"  tablet,  134, 


Index 


135;  at  Assur-bani-pal,  103,  135; 
scribes  of,  135,  136;  the  number 
of  tablets  therein,  135,  136;  sire 
of  tablets  and  of  writing,  136; 
magnifying  lens  found.  136;  con- 
tents of  tablets,  134,  136,  137;  at 
Pergamos,  137;  number  of  rolls 
in.  137:  di  -f.  137,  145; 

\icxandria,  137,  138;  ti 
of  learning  in.  127.  137,  138,  141; 
preeminence  of,  137,  138;  books 
of,  138;  bow  books  secured,  135, 
138,  140.  141;  scribes  of,  127, 
136,  137.  138,  140;  number 
and  size  of  books  therein,  137- 
140;  varying  fortunes  of,  143-145; 

.irablc   loss,    145;    tradition   of 
the  destruction,    143.    144;  at  Con- 

;nople,     146-148;    fostered    by 

the  Em  pen  r.   147  -14S;  successively 

wasted  and  renewed,   148.   152;  of 

I,     132.     148.     149, 

151.  152;     of    churches.     148;    at 
.  and  elsewhere.  64,  " 

>3;     the     Vatican.     64.     170; 
'.    136; 

libraries  perpetuated  and   re- 
135,    136-141.    147. 

152.  157.   163;  number  of  books  in 
ng  modern.    142. 

literature — how     first     perp* 

materials  of  writv 

• 

•  >f  literature.   120-125;  stichometry, 
•t-rs    and    verses    of    the 
ideomatic    use    of 
language   in,    123;   modern   distinc- 
tions of,   120-12:  tnutius 
and  modern  pur.ctuaf 
t(ivl'                        in  conquest 

•cm  of  notation,  126. 
Manuscripts — form  of  book,  61-65; 
period  of.  19-33;  two  desiderata 
for.  46.  47:  cost  of.  29-36,  46,  54, 
130;  enemies  of,  48;  restoration 
of  palimpsest,  63;  repairing  old 
and  damaged,  49,  130;  abundance 

: Me  and  why.  33.  35-3" 
ervation  of,  47,  48,   130,   165,  167; 
the    preeminent    "uncials":    codex 
"N"  (Sinaitic).    44.     64,    65,     147, 
166;  o"K-x  "H"   (Vatican).  44.  64. 
65:  codex  "A"   (Alexandrian),  64. 
cm).  63,  64. 
are   and    embellished, 
*>3.  04.    ]50;  the  Septuagint.   141. 

and    chart •_• 

44.   47.  55-58.  79;  skin  of  animal?, 

i^O.  61 ;  parchment, 

59;    vellum.    59.    61,    147;    papyrus. 

reparation  of  papyrus.  67,  68; 

first  form  of  books,  61,  62;  letter 


form,  62;  earliest  known  roll- 
books,  59;  commerce  in,  31,  70, 
71;  paper  introduced  in  West.  73; 
variety  of  substances  used  in  pa- 
per-making, 72;  other  materials 
displaced  by  paper,  75:  develop- 
ment of  paper-making  and  print- 
ing-press, 75;  paper  long  made  by 
hand,  75,  76;  "India"  paper,  76, 
.iblets  of  various  kinds,  78-81, 
101;  protected  tablets,  81,  82  (see 
Tablets). 

Manutius—  and    system    of    punetua- 
125. 

"Mazarin" — P.ible.  first  printed  book, 
14;  why  so  called.    14. 

:  y — phenomenal    and    reliable. 

Middle    Ages — referred    to,    53,    63. 

•  Is    of, 
129;    ignorance    in.     1 

149,  150.  154;  period  of  em< 
(renaissance).  168,  169. 

•  y    and 
literature, 

Mo.ibitc  Stone — referred  to,  7 
covered,     described,     and 
ered,  79,  108,  109;  age  and  impor- 
109-111;    kinship    with    the 
Siloam   Inscription,    111.    112. 
Monasteries— widely  established.  14S 

154-157.      l'5'Mr  - 

:naking  industry.  157-159;  de- 

•ries  of  books,    157-169;   rela- 

to    learning,     150,     151.     15(>. 

:id   value  of 

ols'  instruction,    156,    160. 
Monasticism — origin     of,     154.     155; 
extent  of,   150-1:  .ikness- 

es,    159,    160;   contributions  to   so- 
ciety. 156-165,  168. 
Monk-*— copyists,  132,  157,   158,   161- 
165;  civilizers,   162,   163,   16  - 
promoted  learning  and  letters,  161- 
164. 

Moors — relation     to     civilization     in 
Kurope.   73;   first   paper-makers  of 
.  73. 

i — British.  59.  64.  80.  93, 
104.  136;  Alexandrian.  137,  138. 
145:  destruction  of.  143.  145;  Ber- 
lin, 80. 

Nippur — antiquity  of,   133:  results  of 

'.•rations   on    sitr,    133-137. 
Notation — system,     a     development, 
125.    126;    "cipher"   of,    126. 

"Orders"— first.    150.    155    (see   mon- 
asteries,   monasticism,    monks). 

Paintings — mural,      at     Washington, 
20,  21;  on  MSS,  52,  53,  54. 


Index 


Palaeography — art  and  science  of, 
89,  90,  159;  development,  90,  92; 
modern  penmanship  a  questionable 
accomplishment,  90;  writing,  crys- 
talized  speech,  90,  91;  three 
sources  of  written  language:  (1) 
Hieroglyphics,  20.  21,  91-99;  (2) 
Cuneiform,  99-104;  (3)  Alpha- 
betic, 91,  92,  104-112;  classic 
writing  a  product,  112;  two  stages 
of  classic  writing — "uncial,"  113, 
114;  -minuscule,"  113,  114;  unde- 
ciphered  script  of  ancient  Cretans. 
100,  108;  provincial  and  national 
"hands,"  115-117;  the  "ascent"  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  "hand,"  115, 
116;  changes  in  the  direction  of 
writing,  116,  117;  the  "hand"  a 
factor  in  determining  age  of  writ- 
.  117-119. 

"Palimpsests" — defined,  63;  ex- 
amples, 63. 

Paper  -origin  of,  72,  73;  itinerary  of 
progress  in  making,  72.  73;  sub- 
stances used  as  "pulp"  for,  72; 
materials  for  making — cotton,  57, 

73,  74:    limn.    58,    74;    flax    and 
rags,  58,  74;  other  substances,  72, 

74,  78;   supercession  of  other  ma- 
terials  by,    75,    76;    earliest    docu- 
ments on,    74;   "water  marks"  of, 
55,    56;    long    made   by    hand.    75; 
interleaved   and   "reinforced,"   69, 
75;  improved  methods  of  making. 
74-76;    complement    of    the    print- 
ing-press,   74,    75;    "India"    paper 
and  tests  and  examples  of.  76,  79. 

Papyrus — source  of,  66;  plant  de- 
scribed, 67,  101;  preparation  of, 
67,  68;  cost,  31,  66;  general  use 
of,  66,  70,  71;  period  of  use,  44, 
70,  71;  commerce  in,  70,  71;  ex- 
portation from  Egypt  forbidden, 
60,  70,  71;  roll-books  on,  68.  69; 
"reinforced,"  69;  subdivision  of 
large  rolls  on,  139,  140;  fragile, 
44,  48,  69,  103;  the  oldest  rolls 
on,  70.  84,  85;  the  "Prisse"  papy- 
rus, 93. 

Parchment — from  skins  of  animals, 
59,  60,  62;  preparation  of,  60;  best 
material,  60,  61;  scarcity  and  cost 
and  "palimpsests,"  63;  valuable 
MSS  of  Bible  on,  52-54,  64.  65. 

Perpamos — parchment  first  made  at, 
60;  library  of,  137.  145. 

Pens — for  writing.   87;   "pen-knife," 

Pentecost — relation  of  first  to  spread 

of  Gospel,  34-36. 

"Period" — punctuation  mark,    124. 
Phoenicians— developed      ideographic 

alphabet,   105-107,  109,  110;  earli- 


est traders  and  first  to  need  a 
communicable  language,  106;  al- 
phabet and  Philistines,  106. 

"Phonetic" — writing,  described,  94- 
96. 

"Pointings" — a  development,  122, 
123,  124. 

"  Polyptych" — described,  82. 

Printing — the  invention  of,  11-13; 
reputed  examples  in  China  and 
Japan.  11.  U.  14;  Gutenberg  the 
inventor,  13;  first  types,  13;  orig- 
inal press  and  modern,  13,  28,  29, 
30;  importance  of,  16-18,  28,  29, 
75;  typography  witness  to  date  of, 
117,  118;  contrasted  with  oral  tra- 
dition, 24,  25;  "proof  correction" 
an  aid  to  purity  of  literature,  17, 
18. 

Punctuation — system  developed,  120- 
1J5;  modern,  11  '  :  indis- 

pensable to  literature  and  com- 
merce, 120-122;  system  completed, 
125. 

Ptolemaic  (dynasty) — "S..ter,"  137; 
"Phila.lclrhus,"  137.  138;  relation 
icxandrian  Library,  137,  138; 
"Kpiphanes,"  98,  99. 

Renaissance — time  and  importance 
of,  150-152,  168,  169. 

Revelation — progressive,  41.  4J;  ma- 
terials embodying,  subject  to  ex- 
posure, 42-44. 

Revised  Version — feat  of  N.  T.  pub- 
lication, 28;  errors  in,  17. 

Roll-book — earliest  form  in  leather 
and  papyrus,  59,  61.  68,  69;  an- 
tiquity of,  59,  70,  84;  size  of,  68, 

69,  83,    139,    140. 

Roman  alphabet — ascendancy  of  and 
reasons  for,  114,  115,  116. 

Rosetta  Stone — referred  to,  70,  79; 
discovery  of,  79,  94,  98;  described, 
98,  99;  tri-lingual  inscription  on, 

70,  98,    99;   key   to   decipherment, 
99;    and    Egyptian    literature,    79, 
99. 

Schools — of  abbeys  and  monasteries, 
151,  156,  157,  163,  164;  Arabian, 
155. 

Scribes — professional,  127;  monks, 
•128,  157-159,  163,  164;  dignitaries 
and  princes,  128;  slaves,  129,  130; 
persons  of  sedentary  habits,  129; 
women,  128;  dictation  to  by  read- 
er, 157,  158;  beauty  of  work,  52- 
54,  159;  wages  of,  29-32;  employed 
in  libraries,  135,  138,  140,  145, 
147. 

"Scriptorium" — of  monasteries,  157, 
158,  165. 


I76 


Index 


"Semicolon"— punctuation  mark,  124. 

"Septuagint" — what  and  for  whom, 
141;  probable  fate  of  original, 
141;  compared  with,  145. 

Siloam  Inscription — place,  date,  and 
object.  111,  112;  discovery  and 
significance  of.  Ill,  112;  related 
to  Moabite  Stone,  112. 

Sinaitic  Manuscript — referred  to, 
44;  when  and  by  whom  discov- 
ered, 166;  described  61,  64.  65, 
148;  where  treasured,  64;  rank, 
65. 

Speech — distinguishing  characteristic 
of  man,  90. 

St.  Catharine — convent  of.  64,  166, 
depository  of  Sinaitic  MS  for 
•ries.  166;  location  and  en- 
trance. 167. 

"Stichomctry" — species  of  early 
punctuation.  123.  124. 

Stylus — instrument  used  on  clay, 
wax,  etc.,  81,  82,  87,  101,  102. 

Tablets— early,  28,  48;  the  material 
of  and  preparation,  78,  79,  81. 
101,  102;  size  and  form,  79,  135. 
136;  number,  79,  104,  134,  135, 
136;  Tel-el- Amarna,  79,  80;  Cnos- 
sos,  107;  character  of  writing  on, 
79,  80,  101-103,  136;  subjects 
tr.ated.  79.  80,  134,  136,  137; 
wood  for,  81;  wax,  78,  81,  82;  en- 
velopes for,  101;  protected,  82, 
101;  "deluge,"  134. 

Thirteenth  century — referred  to,  30, 
39,  54,  159;  great,  151,  159.  168; 
renaissance  began  in,  151;  li- 
braries and  universities  founded 
during,  151,  152. 

"Tongues" — at  Pentecost,  34;  object 
of  the  "gift,"  34-36. 

Tradition — preceded  written  records, 
reserved  and  perpetuated  lit- 
erature, 21-27;  of  the  Alexandrian 
Library's  destruction,  143,  144. 

"TriptycrT'-^described,  82. 

Types — printing,  12;  composition  of, 
13,  14;  changes  in.  an  aid  in  de- 
termining age  of  literature,  117, 
118. 

I'mial" — the          earliest         classic 
"hand,"    113.    114;   the   "hand"  of 
the  preeminent  MSS  of  the  Bible, 
65. 

-ities — when     founded,     151; 
expeditions  of   Pennsylvania   Uni- 
-ity,    134. 

Vatican — manuscript  referred  to.  44, 
53;  described,   64,  65;  on  vellum, 
I,    61;    depository  of,    64;    Li- 
brary, 64,   169,   170. 


Vellum — described,    61;    ttib. 

on,  52-54,  61. 
Versions— of    the    Bible,    35-39,    45; 

Septuagint,    141. 
Volume — earliest  form  of  books,  61- 

65,   68;   size  of,   68,   69,    139;  first 

writing   on    one   side   of,    61,    138; 

larger    works    divided,     139,    140; 

roll-books    designated     by    letters, 

140. 

Wage— for  scribe  in  time  of  Dio- 
cletian, 31. 

"Water    marks" — impressed   in   fiber 
of  paper,   55,   56;  old  custom  and 
f  genuineness  of  documents, 
57. 

Writing — materials  used  and  changes 
in,  46-48,  50,  52-58,  60,  70,  71, 
78;  instruments  adaptable  to.  87; 
inks,  83-86;  art  and  science  of,  89, 
90;  modern  neglect  of  the  art,  90; 
nlized"  speech,  90,  91;  de- 
velopment of,  91,  92;  picture  writ- 
ing, 20,  91-98;  the  three  great 
"species"  of,  92 — (1)  Hierogly- 
phic. 91-99;  two  classes  of:  "ideo- 
graphic" and  "phonetic,"  94-96: 
distinctions  of  ''hieratic"  and  "de- 
motic," 70,  94.  98,  99;  the  Rosetta 
v"  to  the  early 
Kiryptian  writing,  94.  98,  99; 
clumsy  and  uncertain,  97,  98:  (2) 
Cuneiform,  99-104;  Dr.  Grote- 
fend's  decipherment  of,  103:  tab- 
md  cylinders,  7982:  Tel-cl- 
Ainarna  tablets  and  the  Hammu- 
rabi monument.  79,  80;  (3)  Al- 
phabetic, 104-112;  origin 
92,  105,  106;  oldest  deciphered. 
108-110;  the  undeciphered  Minoan 
script,  108;  Moabite  Stone  and 
Siloam  Inscription.  108-112;  Phoe- 
nician contribution  to  ali> 
literature.  105-108;  the  pre-rxilic 
of  Palestine,  111;  classic  writinp. 
112-117;  development  of  national 
and  provincial  "hands."  112-117; 
"uncial"  and  "cursive"  "hands," 
113,  114;  Anglo-Saxon  "hand." 
115.  116;  changes  in  the  direction 
•  •l  writing,  116,  117;  style  of 
writing  a  veri-similitude  of  genu- 
ineness, 117-119;  determining  ape 
of  composition,  118,  119;  com- 
pared and  contrasted  with  print- 
ing, 27-32,  138. 

Young  (Dr.) — labors  in  deciphering 
the  Rosetta  Stone  and  the  Egyp- 
tian hieroglyphics,  98.  99. 

"Zero" — the  cipher  completing  the 
system  of  notation,  126;  when  and 
by  whom  added,  126. 


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